Rifts
by Hideout Writer
Summary: Almost every mythical creature you ever heard whispered about in fairy tales came to this world via a Rift. Some are good creatures, others are so dark that the memory of them was banished from written records. Magic MUST be kept secret!
1. Chapter 1

The young man cast an appraising look at the boarded-up building, cataloguing important pieces of information as he continued walking. At the corner of the building, he turned and walked towards the back. It was the presence of a variety of charms over the building that had attracted his attention, and he wasn't about to ignore his instincts when they told him that he should investigate further. The charms would repel most people, they only managed to earn his curiosity.

His silver .45 was in his hand as he came around the rear of the abandoned restaurant, and the man on guard quietly raised his hands after carefully dropping a polished stick that looked like it was about nine inches long.

"Why use Normal weapons?" the man queried quietly.

"They fit better." the youth answered. "Why the secrecy here of all places?"

"Could you maybe put your gun away?" the man asked.

He raised an eyebrow, but after several seconds, thrust it back onto his overcoat pocket. "Now spill." he said. "I'm not interested in games here."

"Of course." the man said, picking up his stick. "My name is John Doe, and I don't exist. Promise me that you will not tell anyone of me."

"Your secret is safe." the youth said suspiciously. "for now."

"I work with the American Magic Administration, as a non-existent agent. I was ordered to lock this place down, and destroy anything that might disrupt the Statute."

"What does that have to do with this place? There's something about this location, isn't there?" the youth asked urgently.

"Not so loud." the agent said. "I wasn't allowed to use the strongest charms I knew of, because it could have drawn attention. At the look he received, the agent relented. "There is a Rift here…a gateway between worlds. There are many, many such rifts all over the world, and several of these rifts are responsible for the rumors among the Normal people about things like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Unicorns, fairies, centaurs, djinns, genies…almost everything you've ever heard of in the Normal's so-called 'fairy tales' are alien to this world. Sure, the generations here today might think they are native, but their ancestors came through rifts similar to the one this restaurant was built on."

"Built on? The SA lost control over one of these rifts you speak of?"

"Yeah." the agent admitted sheepishly.

"So…to make sure I'm absolutely clear on this one, a Normal person managed to get the deeds to this tract of land and build a restaurant over a Rift?"

"Yes." the agent admitted weakly.

"I'll bet that went well." the youth muttered sarcastically.

"They did well for about three weeks, after which…strange things started happening. They called in the TV paranormal shows, and the crews ran out with their tails tucked between their legs…seems they couldn't hack dealing with real monsters." John said, casually conjuring a chair. "Want to have a seat?"

"No, I'm more comfortable in the upright and locked position." the youth returned jokingly. His tone turned serious instantly though as he said "Attempt to Obliviate me and I swear you won't live to regret it. I've been working with experimental magic, and I think I can safely say that my weapons aren't entirely Normal anymore."

"Really?" the agent asked. "What did you do?"

"Well, for starters, my weapon is dwarf-made. I gave the Durgrimst Ingetum a full set of schematics for the twin .45s I carry now, with the stipulation that I get the first two that they made. Orik was willing enough to acquiesce to the request, especially as I had given his clan nearly a metric ton of titanium. Secondly, not that I'm admitting to anything, but I might have found a way to turn spells into bullets, and my magazines might be loaded only with _Avada_ rounds."

"You turned the Killing Curse into bullets?" the agent asked incredulously.

"Yup. Safe to handle, until they're fired that is." The youth seemed to think for a minute, allowing what he had said to sink in. The SA agent realized that, even if the youth hadn't been pointing the gun straight at his throat, he still would have died the moment the projectile hit him.

"I'm going to make a deal." the youth said, moving away from the wall he had been leaning on. "And you are going to accept it."

"Really?" the agent asked, bemused.

"Yup. I'm going to buy this place. The SA will do everything that they can to ensure that the paperwork goes through, properly, in the Normal government as well as in the AMA. I will lockdown the Rift such that travel from one side to the other will be tightly controlled, and nothing…unsavory will be getting through. I will fund the entire project myself, and the SA will be guarding this particular Rift for another six months. Less if things go better than expected, and longer if things go pear-shaped."

"Okay…" the agent said. "And why do you think the SA or the AMA will go with this?"

"Multiple reasons." the youth said, taking off his left glove. "This is the first reason." he pointed to the silvery tattoo on his palm. "Secondly, my doing so will have the net effect of freeing up SA resources, and I'm sure that the AMA will be more than willing to tax me on the profits generated by the profitable running of the place. My final reason is because my name is Ajax, and the AMA owes me a massive favor by managing to get them a share of their people on Atlantis."

"You're Ajax?" the agent asked incredulously. "THE Ajax?"

"Unless I'm experiencing Jack Sparrow Syndrome, yes, I am the real Ajax." the now-grinning youth replied.

"My shift ends in half an hour." the agent said, consulting his watch. "I will report back to my superiors in the SA, which will more than likely go straight to the top of the AMA."

"More than likely." the youth agreed. "I want you to be my contact, so I know who to look for, unless they decide they absolutely must send some famous person. If they say anything about wanting to send some power representative, inform them I don't do bribes. That should thin the pack." He turned to leave the alley when the man said "Wait, where will I find you?"

"Oh, I'm headed back to my quarters on Atlantis. It was sheer curiosity that drove me to investigate this place while Sheppard finishes loosing all his money to Angel." Ajax called over his shoulder. His hands had dropped back into the pockets of his overcoat as he left the alley, and the agent quietly melted back into the shadows.

Four hours later, seven SA agents died battling the latest group of Rift-crosser wannabes, prompting the idea that the deal presented by the youth should go through as quickly as possible. They didn't want to loose more agents because of a simple Rift.

"So what were you doing out and around?" Sheppard asked, accelerating the Jumper. "And why didn't you warn me about Angel's poker skills?"

"Didn't care enough to warn you about the poker menace." Ajax said.

"Hey!" Angel protested. Ajax ignored her.

"And I was investigating some stuff that I really shouldn't talk about openly."

"What sort of stuff?" Sheppard asked.

"Magic stuff, like Rifts between worlds and whatnot." Ajax replied casually. "Earth has had a long an rich tapestry of magical history, running back to and probably before the time of the written record. They have lived in secret among the rest of us, hiding their abilities as best as possible. There's even an American branch of magical government, called the American Magic Administration. I've found them to be relatively fair, though they've shown a tendency to speed the process up if you drop in a little 'extra' money."

"You mean like bribes?" Sheppard asked, concerned.

"Yeah, pretty much. The justice side doesn't take well to bribes, but you can pretty much speed up anything else if you've got enough shiny stuff to give them."

"Shiny stuff?"

"Gold. The magical currency seems to be gold, silver and bronze or copper."

"So back to my original question, what was it you were looking at?"

"You remember the boarded up restaurant? The one that looked like it wasn't a year old?" Ajax asked.

"Kinda, the details are a bit fuzzy though."

"That would be the charms laid over the building. The Secrecy Administration was attempting to keep the building as low-key as possible. The problem started when a Normal person, someone without magic, bought the land and build a restaurant over it. The SA had semi-permanently sealed the Rift, but the building disrupted the magic binding the Rift, and creatures began coming through again. The owners fled and the SA bought the place, and have been keeping it in lockdown ever since."

"Okay, so we've got things coming through intergalactic gateways, and nobody knows about it?" Sheppard asked.

"Relax, the Secrecy people have training equivalent to the Normal Special Forces. These people are the best at the job, but the problem they face is the fact that it's a drain on their resources. Sooner or later, something's going to get missed, and that's why I intend to acquire the place." Ajax said calmly.

"So…you're going to lockdown this Rift thingie?" Sheppard asked. "Why?"

"I've a better question." Angel said at last. "Didn't you say you wanted to stay on Atlantis?"

"Yes, I was going to stay on Atlantis, but after what Aragon said as I was leaving, I think it would be best that I find something extremely productive to do on this planet, otherwise he'll drag me kicking and cursing back to Alagaesia to help him rebuild the Riders."

"I guess that answers that." Sheppard said. At his urging, the Jumper accelerated to it's top speed before slowing at the lights of the city appeared in the San Francisco bay.

It had been a year since the altercation in low orbit with the Wraith, and the repairs on Atlantis were nearing completion.

After dropping Aragon in Alagaesia with a Jumper, Ajax had taken Eragon and Arya on a whirlwind trip around the world, stopping in various important places along the way.

The crew of _Voyager_ were having the most bittersweet time of it, what with being so close to home, and yet so extremely far away. They had been working with the SGC to improve their ships as best as possible, and phase cannons were now stock-standard on most starships.

McKay complained loudly, bitterly, and often about the idiots overrunning the city, proclaiming that there were few people who were even qualified to fix things on Atlantis, namely himself and Dr. Carter. The SGC having operations on Atlantis was stressful for all, though Angel did her best to keep things sorted out. Dr. Wier often found herself wondering how she would have ever managed without the cheerful human-avian hybrid, and the two had taken to having lunch together every weekend with General Landry, so as to coordinate easily at the top of the command chain.

Ajax, when not off-base, was holed up in his room, or in the research room that Dr. Jackson typically worked in, actively avoiding the bustle and bother that had fallen over the city. Eragon was working with Max, training her as he had been trained, just as Saphira trained Tigrus.

With everything that had been going on, then Sheppard had suggested hitting the Strip in Las Vegas, several people had jumped at the chance.

"I'll be in my quarters if anyone asks for me." Ajax announced, as he moved down the staircase. "I'm going to bed."

When Ajax's head hit the pillow, he was out like a light. Amaranth had not been on the same Jumper as Ajax on the way back, and so, when she curled up on his bed in her dragon form, she found herself looking through his memories of the incident with the SA agent rather than sleeping.

Having found what she wanted to know, she decided that she was pleased with how the partner of her heart had dealt with the situation, and allowed herself to drift into slumber.

The sounds of Red Alert rousted Ajax from his dreamless sleep at precisely five in the morning, and Ajax diplomatically muttered a brief string of obscenities at the alarm clock before shutting it off.

"_Cranky much?"_ Amaranth queried, yawning widely.

"No, I'm awake at five in the morning, and have absolutely nothing positive to say when I haven't had my cup of morning wake-up." Ajax groused, heading for the shower.

Ten minutes later, with the smell of strong coffee pervading the room, Ajax was presentable and in a somewhat better mood.

He was washing down the remnants of his breakfast when the door chimed.

"_That would probably be someone from the SA or the AMA."_ Amaranth said, licking her chops.

Ajax wasn't surprised that she knew about the discussion that had taken place behind the abandoned restaurant, and simply said "Come in."

The doors opened to show John Doe straightening his tie, and attempting to look nonchalant.

"So, what happened when you said that I was looking to cash in that favor?" Ajax asked, gesturing towards a chair. He saw the wand out in the agent's hand and said "Relax, everyone here knows about magic, and my quarters are warded against eavesdroppers. For that matter, this room is warded against anything that might cause Amaranth or myself to be harmed."

Doe flicked his wrist, and the wand vanished back into a holster.

"I told my superiors, and it got back to the Vice President." Doe explained.

"The Vice President…as in, of the United States? Next in line for the Presidency should something happen to the President?" Ajax asked, stunned.

"The same." Doe replied. "The VP handles the affairs between the Normal and Magical worlds, and is in fact essentially the President of the Magical world. He doesn't really do much usually, allowing the system to run itself, but sometimes he makes important decisions. This is one of those cases. We've got paperwork that's been expedited, all you have to do is sign here, here, and on this line over here."

Ajax carefully jacked his left eyebrow into a position three quarters of an inch above normal, where it remained as he carefully read the documents.

"Looks like it's all in order." he said, accepting the pen and signing. "Is that it then?"

"Pretty much." Doe said. "Oh, we had recent activity at that location. Lost seven agents, but managed to keep the whole thing a secret." The note of bitterness in his voice told Ajax exactly what the agent thought about the situation.

"Could you give the families my condolences?" Ajax asked. "I guess we really need to get moving then, an active Rift is not something we want or need." Ajax stood up with a sigh, then walked over to a table and pushed a button as Doe looked on with interest. A blue holographic field flickered into existence, and Ajax began moving his hands through the field.

"Can we go through the Rift?" Ajax asked.

"Yes…but the last expedition to do so never returned, and their communications seemed to indicate that they were in trouble. They are officially MIA, though it's more probable that they were KIA."

"Then we should bring their bodies back, if their remains are still there." Ajax said. "At the very minimum, I need to know what's on the other side, and my friends here can help me with that. Ever heard of a MALP?"

At the agent's reply in the negative, Ajax continued. "A MALP is a Normal device used to determine the viability of a world before we actually send people in. It gives us information about the atmosphere, the surroundings, and other useful tactical data. If the atmo is different on their end, and we can't breath their air, but they can breath ours, then we go in with HazMat or EV suits, and lock down the other end. On the other hand, if we can breathe the air on that end, then we can dispense with the EV or HazMat suits and lockdown. Either way, I want that end locked down so that we can screen incoming travel one hundred percent effectively."

The agent had nodded his way through most of what Ajax had said, then stood up. "I'll get a team together, seven of the finest we have."

Ajax nodded thoughtfully at that. "Yeah…tell 'em they need to go straight to the Aveda curse if things go pear-shaped right away."

"That's an Unforgivable!" the agent protested.

Ajax rolled his eyes. "Please don't tell me that you simply can't use the Aveda because it's Unforgivable." he said. He retrieved his wand with a silent summoning charm, then opened the window.

"Aveda Kadavera." he announced, wand pointed out the window. It was followed at once by "Dectus." Ajax turned to the agent, who had been staring out the window in shock. "No problem. Accio Aveda bullet."

A moment later, a green tipped bullet sailed into Ajax's outstretched hand.

"A Reducto would be just as deadly as the Aveda, if aimed correctly. Why isn't that one Unforgivable as well?" Ajax asked rhetorically. "It's because people can shield against it, but can't shield against Aveda, right? Because unsavory people would be willing to use an unstoppable spell to achieve their ends, right?"

At the agent's nod, Ajax said "You need to use deadly force against something that will do the same against you. Showing them who's the better man doesn't work when it shows them who's dead. You need to have the right reasons to use the Aveda. If you use it just because it kills…then maybe that's not good enough. Put your team together, I'll get my friends gathered."

Amaranth launched herself out the open window, and Ajax closed it before leaving the room. In the adjacent room, Ajax slipped on his emerald green overcoat, and checked that his handguns were in proper order before dropping them back into their holsters and grabbing extra magazines. With seven extra magazines in each pockets, Ajax reached up and grabbed a forest green wide brimmed hat, which he pulled low over his head, then grabbed a pair of what looked like sunglasses or safety glasses, which he then put on before touching a silver oval on one side. The part of the frames that went behind the ears began to glow blue, and he made several gestures in thin air before nodding. "Alright, good to go." He snagged a rod off of a shelf, which he tucked into his coat.

"I know how to apparate, and I've made port keys before, but I don't like either form of transport. As a Rider, I could call on the power of the dragon-flame, but I think I prefer taking a Jumper." he said, walking past the agent.

Doe quickly caught up and fell in step with him. "What's a Jumper?"

"It's a flying craft, designed by Merlin's predecessors. Merlin himself was the last administrator of Atlantis, he was the one who ensured that the Zero Point Modules powering the city were at full charge before setting the gate to only accept a wormhole from Earth, then everybody on the city at the time fled back to the Milky Way, running from the Wraith threat."

"Merlin, the one who we look to as the founder of British magic, _fled_?" Doe asked.

"Yeah." Ajax replied. "I would have too, if in the same situation. It was the only way to save Atlantis."

They entered the Gate Room, and Ajax casually leaned against one of the corners at the base of the staircase.

Seven minutes later, four people walked in, prompting Ajax to straighten up, as walk up the stairs.

The group convened in J8, where Ajax took the helm. The lady dressed in green seemed to radiate power, and Doe discreetly cast a variety of spells, which led him to believe that she was extremely powerful and somehow irrevocably linked to the young man at the helm.

"Don't worry about a thing, Doe." Ajax said. "You can use as much magic as you like, and you will not adversely effect the systems onboard…with the exception of my hard drive. I haven't shielded it properly yet, and it _will_ irritate me if I loose all the data I gather via the frames."

Doe looked at Ajax for a moment, then held up his wand as the Jumper cleared the bay. "_Lumos!_" Light flared on the tip of his wand, and nothing happened to the airborne craft.

Ajax looked around, looking at the lights. "Great job Doe." he said sarcastically. "You managed to turn off all the lights in this compartment except yours, due to automatic light-level controls. In all seriousness though, you haven't harmed anything."

Doe relaxed considerably, right before Ajax accelerated out of the area at full speed.

_All right, this is a new story. Review it or something cool like that._

_HP magic and IC magic are two different beasts, so just having control over one brand does not guarantee mastery of the other._


	2. Chapter 2

Doe's face had taken on what was (to Ajax at least) a satisfying shade of pasty when the craft had so suddenly accelerated to maximum speed with little interference from the inertial dampeners.

"Sorry if I scared you." Ajax said. "I like to feel how I'm flying, and dampers don't help me with that goal." Somehow, his tone had suggested to Doe that he wasn't truly sorry for the maneuver. He swallowed, but didn't say anything.

Half an hour of flying saw the Jumper descending into the Strip in Las Vegas under it's cloaking generator. It landed quietly behind the restaurant, where Ajax popped the hatch.

"So where is the Rift, anyway?" Ajax muttered, opening a compass lid. The needle spun wildly for a moment before settling in a particular direction.

"Right, weapons at the ready everyone, don't want to get caught unawares." So saying, Ajax unlocked the door, and opened it while Amaranth drew one of Ajax's silver .45s and quickly went through the door.

"Clear." she said, several seconds later. "There's nothing here, save what you'd expect from an abandoned restaurant."

The rest of the group walked in, slightly ill-at-ease, but not tense enough to jump around corners with drawn weapons. Ajax consulted the compass again, and the group left the room, Ajax leading the way.

It did not take long before the Rift was found, pulsing in the men's bathroom. Thankfully, it was clean, and well-lit after Nikki fixed an orb of light to the ceiling.

"So that's the Rift." Ajax said, closing the lid on the compass. "We need to lock it down in a fixed location, don't need something like that moving around."

The group agreed, but as nobody knew how to handle such an operation, it was decided to leave it be for the moment. The group was leaving the room when Amaranth whirled around, gauzy sleeves billowing, and unloaded a round into the Rift.

Quick as a wink, Ajax had his second gun in hand, and was aiming at the Rift as well, waiting to get a positive bead on whatever was coming through. Moments later, something that reminded Ajax of a troll came through, and received an Avedra Kadavera to the head for it's efforts. Trolls might have been spell resistant, but the Aveda curse killed on contact, and even if it hadn't, a standard .45 round would have been enough to terminate lower brain functions, if placed right.

It toppled over, dead.

"Impressive." Doe said. "What was that spell you used again?"

"Which?" Ajax queried, not bothering to look away from the Rift. "The one to make bullets out of spells? Dectus. Makes bullets of the forty-five caliber variety, nothing else."

"There a wand movement to go with that?"

"Nope. Point-and-shoot. You fire of your spell in a place that's got plenty of space so you don't loose the spell you want to capture, and as soon as the spell is clear of your wand, track it with your wand and say Dectus. Simple as that." He squeezed off another round, followed sharply by another, the sound of it's twin being used by Amaranth supplanting the noise and death created by pulling the trigger.

In short order, eighteen trolls were dead on the floor, and the Dragon Rider team was popping fresh magazines into the weapons they held.

Unlike most users of the Avedra Kedavera curse, Ajax had never cast in in hate or in the heat of the moment. It was used for it's ability to painlessly bring death to whatever it met, because though Ajax was quite willing to simply kill whatever seemed to be too far gone to be redeemable, he did not wish to torture whatever or whoever it happened to be.

"Well, I know for a fact that trolls are very similar to us as far as air requirements go," Ajax said "but I'm still not ready to test it until I've got a MALP properly shielded and ready to go. I recommend that the SA make good use of the dectus spell, that and a forty-five handgun will go a long way to cutting down on our losses, provided we have people making enough ammunition. Let's re-convene here in two days. That should give me enough time to get and shield a MALP, and your people more than enough time to make a stockpile of .45 Aveda."

"I'll get on it." Doe said simply. He spun sharply on his heel, disappearing into thin air with barely a whisper of noise.

Ajax casually dropped his weapon back into it's holster, pulling out his pocketknife at the same time. "I need everyone of the room for the moment." he said, pulling off his left glove. Amaranth recognized the gesture as a sign, and ushered the mermaid trio out while Ajax prepared to use magic in ways that had probably not been intended by the original creator of the spell.

"_Scourgify!"_ he stated, his voice ringing with power and authority. It was as if there was a RADAR wave with him at the center, cleaning the room as it swept three hundred and sixty degrees before fading away. He then vanished the toilets and urinals and sinks, leaving nothing unchanged in the room save the walls and lighting fixtures.

He was just putting his glove back on when the ladies returned. "We need to set up wards in her, strong enough to take an A-bomb and still stand." he said quietly. "I'm afraid that leaves us with but one option: blood wards."

The others thought about what he had said in silence, even as Ajax pricked his index finger. His neural interface was providing him with images of the runes he needed so that it was a simple matter of tracing them. The problem was that he was being forced to actively use magic to keep the cut open and bleeding, something that his systems weren't terribly fond of. He was about halfway around the room when Emma raised a question.

"Just how clean is this place Ajax?"

"Perfectly." came the reply. "That's why you all had to leave, I used an overpowered _scourgify_ to clean every square inch of the room, then vanished the flimsy barriers, sinks, toilets, everything that wasn't a real wall, floor, ceiling or light fixture. I then did the _scourgify_ again, just to make sure."

"How overpowered, exactly?" Cleo asked politely.

"Industrial-medical." Ajax replied. "Had you been in here, you could have been cleaned out of existence. You'd come back after a bit of course, a week from now in the moonpool."

"Why that long?" Emma queried directly.

"Because it requires a ritual involving the scales and tears of a mermaid. That's why I collected samples from each of you and have them bottled and labeled in a secure box in my quarters. The ritual would create a new body for you, following the patterns embedded in you scales and tears, which your spirit would then be free to inhabit."

The three seemed slightly disturbed by the information, but Ajax didn't notice, as he was still busy tracing blood runes on the walls. "Think of it like backing up all the information on your laptop. When something happens to the laptop, you can just get a new one, plug in the hard drive, restore the information, and you're good to go again." this was followed by some muttering that nobody heard clearly, and Ajax stepped back from the wall. "Done!" he said, surveying the wall. He compared the runes with the visuals he was getting from the interface, then charged a ball of pure white energy, which he then touched to a lighting-bolt shaped rune. There was a crackling noise, then a wave of energy shot through the line of runes, making a complete circuit of the room before fading away. A moment later, the dried blood on the walls faded out of the visible spectrum as well, leaving nothing but a burnt dragon-shaped rune where Ajax had started.

"What just happened?" Nikki asked nervously. "I felt my hair standing up."

"I did the ward properly." Ajax said, holding out the knife. "Anybody else want to give it a go?"

As an afterthought, Ajax reached up and powered down the neural interface, before taking off the glasses.

Amaranth accepted the knife, but serenely told Ajax "I don't need your little mind toy. Dragons would use different runes anyway. Runes that things wouldn't and couldn't know. Saphira taught them to me." So saying, Amaranth cut a small x on the tip of her delicate finger, and began placing runs on the wall. She was done quickly, as the runes seemed to merge with one another, and were not as exacting as the ones Ajax had used. When she was finished, the cut healed without a trace, leaving her finger clean.

She snapped her fingers, creating a fireball of brilliant emerald-green flame. The mermaid trio instinctively shrank back from the fire as, after a moment of consideration, Amaranth flung the fireball directly at the wall, hitting the rune she had started with. The entire network of runes seemed to flare, and everyone in the room felt it as an oppressive force seemed to fall over them. Amaranth was the only one who didn't stagger at the sudden weight, then it vanished as quickly as it had come, the fire and runes fading away. All that was left on the wall was the draconic symbol for binding magic, directly opposite Ajax's dragon rune.

"Anybody else?" she said casually. "The more wards we put here, the more secure it is."

Ajax flung a reducto at a wall, only for it to rebound and pass into the Rift. "I'd say it's pretty secure, Amaranth. I don't know, and suspect I never will know, the strength or import of the wards you've erected here today."

Amaranth laughed, a sweet, clear sound, then said, "You are right, o Rider of mine. You will never be taught about the draconic runic system. It is for dragon-kind only."

Ajax nodded. "Figured as much. Anything else add to the wards will increase the strength of what's already there, due to the extra blood, but if you don't want to do it…"

None of the mermaids volunteered, not wanting to even come close to touching whatever magical leftovers there were of the draconic fire, and Ajax returned the knife to his pocket. "Then our work here is done." So saying, he opened the door, and the group filed out. Ajax locked it with a word, and the group returned to the Jumper.

The trip was spent in silence, and when the Jumper landed in the tower bay, the group went their separate ways in silence.

Ajax was quickly seated in Dr. Wier's office, working up the nerve to ask for the item he needed.

"What can I do for you?" Dr. Wier asked at last, smiling over her computer.

"I…need to borrow a MALP so I can take it apart and shield it from magical interference." Ajax blurted quickly.

"Say that again?" Dr. Wier asked, bemused. "I don't speak Speed."

"That again." Ajax deadpanned. That seemed to break the ice, and he repeated himself, a bit slower this time. "I'd like to borrow a MALP so I can take it apart and properly shield it against magical interference so that I can explore the other side of a Rift I've just acquired."

"And now I need it explained." Dr. Wier said happily.

"In Las Vegas, on the Strip, there is an abandoned restaurant. That's not something that happens without reason. The owner and staff all said the place was haunted, the paranormal tv shows investigated, got their hind ends kicked, and left. By the way, everything I'm telling you is secret. I trust you because you've been easy-going about my use of magic, as well as the presence of three dragons on the city that is -on paper at least- your responsibility."

"Okay…continue…" Dr. Wier said, interested.

"Magic has existed on this world since Merlin descended to build his weapon in the time of Arthur Pendragon. I don't know how, or why, but apparently, he wasn't the only magician in town. He was just the most powerful one, having retained most of his ascended abilities. He did more than just work on a weapon though, he started a school with the help of four people you've probably never heard of, and Dr. Jackson has probably only remotely heard of: Griffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. They are well-known in secret communities, mainly Britain, but elsewhere as well, as the Founding Four of Hogwarts. Merlin actually guided them on this great undertaking, and Hogwarts was what pioneered the standardized learning of the secretive magical world.

"Now, this is all well and good you say, but there's a magical government branch here in America, and it is from them that I acquired the restaurant. The AMA, or American Magical Administration governs magic here in America, while the SA, or Secrecy Administration acts like something between the CIA and the FBI. It is the goal of the SA for no person without magic to learn of magic unless they are related to someone of magical blood. This restaurant was a serious thorn in their side, and attracting more attention than they liked. I took it off their hands. You see, by vouching for some of the people on this base, the ICW owed me a massive favor."

"ICW?" Dr. Wier asked. "These people seem to like their acronyms." a hint of a smile graced her face with that statement.

"They do, don't they?" Ajax mused. "The ICW is the International Council of Wizards. The Wizarding UN, essentially."

"Why did they owe you such a massive favor?"

"Because this is Atlantis. The Lost City. Most legends hold that all magic sprang from Atlantis, though how it came to be underwater seemed to have been muddied by time. By allowing people to come here, you did a lot, far more than you know, for the wizarding world. For some strange reason, they laud _me_ as the hero rather than you, due to the fact that you have no magic to draw on. Had you been of magical descent, or actually had magic, you would have been the hero of the hour, as it should be."

The look on Ajax's face told Dr. Wier that he was relatively unimpressed with how the wizarding world viewed those without magic.

"Anyway, it was due to allowing witches and wizards in Atlantis that I gained massive favor with the wizarding world at large. In Britain, I'm in third place for best wizard alive. Dumbledore is in second place, he's the leader of the ICW, and someone they call 'the boy-who-lived' is in first place, for destroying a terrorist they had, who called himself Voldemort. I figured out that it's a stupid anagram that translates to 'I am Tom Riddle'. Apparently, Riddle killed the boy's parents with the Avedra Kedavera, a curse that causes instant, painless death the moment it comes in contact with anything that is alive. There are no known shields for it, though it's rumored that the Elder Wand can cast such a shield, and the only known defence against the killing curse is to not be there when it hits. If you see a green light coming at you, don't let it touch you. Somehow, the kid survived the killing curse. There was a significant amount of blowback, and Voldemort got himself a face full of Avedra."

Dr. Wier leaned back in her chair, deep in thought. "You're saying that there are witches and wizards in Atlantis now?"

"Yeah, though they keep their abilities secret. Don't let anyone know about what I've told you, else the next word you hear might be 'obliviate', which will remove any memories the caster wishes to remove. It's irreversible, unless the caster undoes it him or her self."

"Great, I could loose all memories of Atlantis if someone wanted me to? Just what sort of Pandora's Box have I opened here?"

Ajax's eyes widened in alarm. "Not so loud! I don't know which is which right now, and this room is poor protection against eavesdroppers. I'll ward your office with a temporary charm for now, but I'll need to crack open the runic resources I've got, so as to set up a good security suite."

Ajax twitched his fingers, and a light buzzing noise was heard, followed briefly by a blue pulse that dropped from the ceiling to the floor, in close proximity to the windows.

"Runes last longer, but this charm should hold good for six hours or until I cancel it." Ajax said. "And yes, theoretically, you could loose all memory of Atlantis, but that would require an exquisitely handled memory modification of every non-magical on Atlantis who knows you, followed by the removal of your name from the Atlantis rosters in various places on the planet, and that won't go over well with the Vice President, seeing as how he approved of your continued work as the city administrator."

"Vice President…of the US?"

"Yes. The magical world answers to the Vice President, though he's little more than a figurehead most of the time. The office itself allows the VP to use magic, the ability is then taken from him when his term ends."

"Why?"

"Because that's what was done in the magical contract when they were first building the governing system for the nation. It was a way to keep everything relatively balanced. At the end of the term, the VP will typically loose his ability to do magic, as well as any magic-related memories. If he's trustworthy, he might get to keep the memories, and if he's really good, it's possible to induct him into the magical world permanently, though it's happened only twice.

"Now, going back to where I started, may I borrow a MALP? I don't want to risk going into a hostile environment without prior knowledge about it."

"I see." Dr. Wier pursed her lips as she thought about it. "If you break it, you get to pay for a new one." she said at last.

"Understood, thank you." Ajax said, standing.

"I would like it if you could drop by this evening, and do that warding you were talking about doing." Dr. Wier said quickly.

"I wouldn't forget." Ajax assured her. "I'll be back at eight." So saying, he dropped the privacy wards on the room, and walked out.

When Ajax returned at one minute to eight, the day shift was just leaving, and Ajax hurriedly threw up the privacy charms.

"Blood wards are the strongest, but even runes done with a penknife have plenty of power." he said. "You throw up blood wards when you expect to be attacked by anything stronger than an average wizard. I've done some reading, and what I found out was that you have adopted an open-door policy."

"I have?" Dr. Wier asked, amused.

"Yeah, opening the door interrupts the magical circuit. I'm putting the silence set on the bottom rail, and the one-way glass set on the top rail. When the door closes, the glass will turn black to anyone on the outside, but it will still allow anyone inside the room to see through. Same thing with sound. If the guy on deep space sensors were to pick up a Tel'tac on sensors and say something about it, you'd hear it as easily as if the door was open. They just wouldn't hear you acknowledging the fact until you opened the door."

"Sounds good, when do I get it?"

"I'll have it done in about half an hour." Ajax replied. "The scale is small, the runes precise, and cutting into metal isn't exactly the easiest way to mark runes."

"Couldn't you paint it?"

"Maybe." Ajax replied from the floor. "if I had Chinese or Japanese rune paint. The stuff is inherently magical, though it does still need to be charged before it will work, and it's horrendously expensive. It's easiest to do it by cutting the runes into the metal, or painting them on with my blood."

"Ah." Dr. Wier said. "Why would someone use blood for the wards?"

"Blood-based wards are among the strongest wards available, though it's rumored that the goblins can do even stronger, far meaner wards. Typically, blood wards to keep people safe from attack. For a simple security suite like what I'm setting up, it would be like using an A-bomb when all you really need is a baseball bat or something."

Dr. Wier returned to her computer, tuning out the scratching noises made by the knife on metal. She was shaken out of her haze by Ajax climbing down from a chair with the words "I'm done."

"So soon?" she asked, shocked.

"So late is more like it." he grumbled. "It's three minutes to nine. I thought I could have it done by eight thirty."

"So what else is there to do?" Dr. Wier asked. "Or is it all done?"

"Well, I included a subscript for your protection, something like a block of code buried deep within the operating system. It will require a drop of blood, placed on the shield rune, and then I need to charge the entire system, after which I can drop the temporary charms I placed when I came in at eight."

"I assume that by 'a drop of blood' you mean my blood?" Dr. Wier asked.

"Yes, to key the protection to you personally. Wizards and witches will think long and hard before attacking, if they attack, and non-magical people won't even bother attacking, they'll chicken out and run. It's one part detection, one part compulsion, and two parts shielding. If anyone does try anything, you should be safe from anything other than the Unforgivable curses."

"Unforgivable? What have you not told me?"

"The Unforgivable curses offer complete control over the victim, torturing every nerve ending of the victim, and killing the victim, depending on which one of the three words you use. Imperio overrides your victim's free will, Crucio makes your victim feel like every nerve ending is on fire, and Avedra Kadavera kills the victim, with no hope of blocking it, save putting something else in it's path. Marble works well for that sort of thing."

Dr Wier stood up with a resigned sigh. "What do I need to do?" she asked.

"Just prick your finger, and smear it over the shield rune here. Make sure you cover the entire rune." Ajax said. "I'll heal the wound as soon as your done."

Dr. Wier accepted the knife. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this…" she said.

"Most blood based magic is considered dark." Ajax said helpfully. "But it's really not dark on the condition that the blood is given willingly."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" Dr Wier laughed nervously.

"Yep."

Elizabeth Wier thought about it for several long seconds, then found where the shield run was located, and pricked her finger.

_Alright, now I need to do the next chapter. Anybody want to leave a review?_

_Master of the Blood Wolves: There will be a declining focus on the Stargate, eventually moving to the point where references to it are few and far between, as compared with living on a city with a Stargate built into it. So, while you could say (and did say) that it's a continuation of TSoA, it really isn't It's a continuation of Ajax's life, certainly, but not Stargate. Not here._

_Cronos will be greatly angered by my meddling I'm sure, but I'm the writer, so he can just stuff it up a special place. Anything HP will probably be fifth year for Harry. Continuing with my bending of time, Aragon went to Hogwarts before Harry's time. Aragon was seventh year well before Harry was first year._

_Oh, and the first review comment, does that make you an ickle firstie?_


	3. Chapter 3

With the warding of the administrator's office complete, Ajax spent the next two days shielding the MALP from magic with runes. It was demanding work, but he enjoyed it. Surprisingly enough, it had been Dr. Jackson who had taught him most of the actual runes, while Amaranth was the one who mostly figured out how to string them together to form logical 'sentences' that got the job done the way Ajax wanted. Most of the work with the MALP was done with a Dremel, which allowed him to inscribe the runes faster that he could have with the diamond-point penknife that he carried for most rune work. When he was finished, he reassembled the MALP, and checked that all systems were functioning correctly, while having a few wizards in the room using some rather active magic. The MALP operated as it was supposed to, and Ajax add the letters MS to the sides of the machine, so that when it was returned, everyone would know that it was magic safe.

The feed was routed directly to the neural interface, and Ajax had obtained five pairs of standard military safety glasses, to which a small screen was attached. This allowed the others with him to see the feed from the MALP after it was sent the Rift.

Agent Doe arrived at precisely one in the afternoon, and the group convened in the remodeled bathroom.

With a whining sound, the MALP trundled into the Rift, and the feed screens depicted digital snow for several seconds before the link was re-established.

"Oh-two levels are within acceptable parameters, there appear to be few toxins, certainly far less that what we're breathing here." Ajax said, panning the camera. It made a three-sixty sweep before Ajax made the MALP drive around the Rift so he could see in that direction without having the Rift blocking his field of vision.

"There's a rough trail here, very freshly cut, other than that, there are no signs of any kind of civilization. We're clear to go in."

So saying, Ajax programmed the MALP to return to the Rift room, and he cut the feed.

"Agent Doe, did you bring in those specialists I asked about?"

"I did one better." Doe replied. "They've already come and gone, the Rift will not move about on this end."

"Great!" Ajax said. "And the bullets?"

"It took a few tries, and more than a few uses of Reparo but we got the hang of it pretty quickly. The higher-ups didn't like the idea of using Avedra as the spell of choice, and we ended up with a mix of Reducto and Stupefy."

"I see." Ajax said flatly. "What are you loaded with?"

"Considering the nature of what's come through, I have exactly one magazine of Avedra, cast and converted myself, and the rest of my ammunition is Reducto."

"I hope that's enough to work with." Ajax murmured. "How many extra mags?"

"Eight."

Ajax's eyebrows raised at that. "Nice. I didn't realize you were going to take it that seriously."

"We lost twenty-seven agents to this Rift, of course I'm going to take it seriously." Doe replied, affronted.

Everyone drew their weapons, and Ajax plunged through the Rift at a quick trot, followed three seconds later by Amaranth. As soon as the group had all come through, the mermaid trio took up defensive positions around the Rift, and Ajax went down the trail with Amaranth and Doe.

They were slowly, quietly, going down the trail, when Amaranth, who had been leading, dropped swiftly into a crouch, holding up her clenched fist.

Ajax recognized the sign, and stopped at once, pulling down on Doe's shoulder as he did so.

"What was the fist about?" Doe asked.

"Hush!" Ajax hissed. "Not so loud. We don't know what's out there yet. The fist was the sign for 'stop', and her crouching at the same time like she did meant that we should do the same."

"Oh. I suppose we should get ready to fire?"

"Yeah."

Ajax heard roughly a minute after Amaranth had, guttural rolling sounds, coming from multiple creatures.

"Five at least, possibly more." he whispered to Doe. "Guttural tones suggest anything along the lines of trolls, goblins, giants or Urgals."

"Never heard of Urgals." Doe whispered back.

"I hope you never have to meet them in a combat situation."

"Trolls." Amaranth hissed at the two men. "Mountain variety."

"Joy?" Ajax asked sarcastically. He checked to see that his weapon was ready, then looked up in the direction the voices were coming from.

Twelve mountain trolls came around the corner, and reached for their weapons upon seeing three people crouched on the ground.

The trio stood up, weapons ready, though nobody started firing, waiting for the trolls to make the first move. There was a guttural order from one of them, and one of the group put down his weapons before moving around the trio. Two more quickly did the same, upon which Ajax spun around, pointing his weapon at the first troll who had gone around.

"Something's different with these guys." he said to Amaranth. "Back on Earth, they simply would've picked their nose and charged us with their clubs held high, these guys are acting with intelligence. I think they want something from us, or they're getting ready to do something to us."

"Nothing shall be done to us without _my_ permission." Amaranth stated primly, aiming at the leader.

One of the trolls, smaller and more compact than his fellows, broke away from the group, sprinting at full speed down the trail.

The three holding guns didn't even blink.

"What do you suppose he's up to?" Doe asked at last.

"Messenger." Amaranth stated blandly. "He's the last I would have shot in this situation."

The trolls seemed to decide what to do, and the three that had dropped their weapons retrieved them, and the group formed up around the trio. They were allowed to keep their weapons however, something for which Ajax was personally very grateful.

There was a guttural shout from the leader, and the group started moving down the trail they had come up several minutes before.

"Emma, we are currently being escorted by trolls, those things we saw come out of the Rift when we were in the bathroom? I'll explain more later, but for now, we are unharmed, and have all of our equipment, intact. Keep the line open, I'll give you more information as soon as I can." Ajax said, holding the radio. "They seem to be behaving more intelligently than their brethren on Earth."

"Let me get this straight," Emma's voice said, crackling slightly over the radio. "you've been capture but you're currently unharmed, and you still have all your stuff?"

"Basically, yes." Ajax said. "I'll drop repeaters along the way, so that we don't have trouble staying in communication. Keep the lines open."

"Understood. Everything's fine here at the Rift, absolutely nothing's been happening, so we've been working on a side project."

"I'll ask later." Ajax said, then put the radio back in his pocket. The trolls were still looking apprehensively at him, but none made any overly threatening moves, so Ajax ignored them.

After nearly half an hour of walking, the forest ended, and the trail, which had improved in quality the further down it they went, turned into a proper road, complete with paving stones. The trolls seemed to be more at ease, being near a town, especially since the three foreigners had done nothing dangerous.

They were greeted upon clearing the city gates by a troll with a staff as tall as he was, with a large crystal ball worked into the wood. The escorting group greeted this troll with respect and deference, and Ajax suspected that the troll was either some sort of magician, or someone in a position of high authority.

The troll listened to what the pack leader had said, then uttered a word or phrase before turning around and walking away. The escort quickly moved to follow.

They entered a palace, and finally stopped in what Ajax surmised was the great hall of the palace.

The escort moved the three strangers to the center of the room, and the leader said something, but nobody understood what it meant. His hand signals however, made it clear that they were to remain in the center of the room. The escort then moved away from the three.

Four more trolls, with staffs similar to the one of the first they had seen, entered the room. The first said something that caused the ball to glow, then he seemed to throw a line of white light across the room to the magician standing there. It was caught by the ball set in his staff, and thrown across again, to another troll, who threw it to the fourth, this one sent it to the fifth, who sent it back to the first, creating a pentagram of white light around the three intruders.

Amaranth hissed her displeasure, but did not fire her weapon, waiting instead to see what would happen.

A few moments later, the most regally dressed troll they had seen thus far walked in, skirting the pentagram to take a seat on a throne that seemed to be created mainly out of vines and moss, secured to four granite supports.

"I am King Ruensnarl." he stated. "The pentagram surrounding you is intended both for my safety and the translation of your tongue to ours and vice versa."

"I assume that means these lines will become most…unpleasant should we decide to use our weapons or magic?" Ajax asked politely.

"Yes, though your magic should be completely out of reach by now, you will recover your ability to use magic about half an hour after the pentagram is shut down." Ruensnarl said.

"We've been having altercations with your people on the other side of the Rift." Ajax stated. "We have not acted in the offensive since your escort found us, so I'm really not worried about your safety. Ours on the other hand…they came through the Rift, and tried to kill us."

"Not just tried." Doe stated. "They have! We've lost over twenty good people to those who have come through."

"I would tender my apologies for the deaths of your people, but they did not go on my orders. They are insane, the _Demdalla_, driven by an insatiable blood-lust and the desire for power. What has become of them?"

"Dead." Ajax stated.

"It is well." Ruensnarl stated calmly. "Even among us, they are considered animals, and are destroyed anytime someone gets the chance."

"How open is magic use in your kingdom, your majesty?" Amaranth asked, adopting a lilting tone of voice.

"It is quite common, and is taught to our young alongside studies of nonmagical things, o fair one." Ruensnarl said, appearing pleased by the use of the term 'your majesty'. Amaranth preened slightly.

Ajax looked at his weapon for several seconds, then dropped it into the holster, leaving his hands empty.

"What are you thinking?" Amaranth enquired.

"I don't know exactly." Ajax said. He looked briefly towards the magician who had started the chain, then calmly and deliberately dropped his hands onto one of the white lines of the pentagram. It flickered, and the magicians seemed to shudder. Power was visibly rolling down Ajax's arms, and the line turned green where his hands were gripping it, before it spread out to the points, eventually turning the entire pentagram green. When it finished, Ajax stepped clear with Amaranth and Doe following right behind. After several seconds, the pentagram dissolved, and Ajax returned to the center of the room.

"With all due respect, your majesty," he said firmly. "I'm not fond of being held helpless. Your choices are to continue this meeting, or we can leave. I will give you my word that I'll not attack until attacked."

There was a new respect in the troll king's eyes as he leaned forward. "What are you?" he asked quietly.

Ajax picked up on the what rather than the typical who. He pulled off the glove on his left hand, then showed the king the silvery tattoo.

The king's eyes widened considerably as he beheld the Gedwëy Ignasia, glowing slightly as Ajax neared use of magic. In reality, Ajax was gently pressing on the wall separating him from actually using magic, but deliberately not breaking through.

The king stood from his relaxed position on his throne, and knelt before Ajax. "You are Argetlam, but where is Skulblaka?" he whispered hoarsely.

"That would be me." Amaranth said. She jumped straight up, going much higher than anyone else would have thought possible. When she reached apogee, a wave of green energy passed over her from head to tail, and a dragon slightly larger than a St. Bernard drifted down on stilled wings.

"_I am by my Rider at all times, king Ruensnarl."_ she said, pushing her thoughts out to everyone. _"However, for the safety of my Rider and I, I have found that it is possible to change myself to look human, and it is through that that I have insured the safety of myself and my Rider in the world he calls his home."_

"I cannot believe that your world has regressed so much that it no longer respect the great Dragon Riders." Runesnarl said in shock.

"Please get up, you have no need to bow before me. And our world has progressed, not regressed, your majesty." Ajax stated bluntly. "The old ways are gone lost to the history tomes of another era. Magic has gone into hiding, or rather, the people using magic have gone into hiding, and much of what was once known has been lost forever. I fully intend to visit Hogwarts and find out why so that I may rectify the situation."

"I see." Ruensnarl said thoughtfully, sitting in his throne again. "Are there any of my kind in your world?"

"Yes, though I hesitate to call them your kind, they are what I believe you referred to as the Demdalla." Ajax replied. "Are there other, insane creatures roaming around that would be drawn by the power of the Rift?"

"Yes, the wolf-men."

"As in, men who turn into wolves the night of the full moon?"

"Yes, you know of them?"

"Yep, we call 'em werewolves. A few of them are alright, taking proper precautions to not loose themselves to the wolf inside. A permanent cure for lycanthropy is still being researched, but for now, the Wolfsbane potion works to keep a man in his right mind, even as his body changes to look like a wolf."

"I would be very interested in acquiring directions for the making of such a potion." Ruensnarl admitted. "There are people, like you in how they look, dress and speak, but who are extremely prejudiced against us. They have tried to destroy us more than once, claiming that we were ugly abominations that must be destroyed."

"Are any of your people affected by lycanthropy?" Ajax asked, concerned.

The king of the trolls answered with a feral grin. "No, we wish to level the playing field. I know that there are some who turn themselves in before the full moon is upon them, but their minds are still lost to the wolf inside. If we had this wolfs-bane potion of which you spoke, we would be able to make it a less favorable option for your kind to attack us."

"I see." Ajax said, deep in thought. "I'll consider it."

"Fair enough." Ruensnarl replied. "Shall I have rooms prepared for you?"

"No, I'm on an exceedingly tight schedule, I must decline your offer at this time. I do wish to request one thing of you, however."

"I will consider it." Ruensnarl said cautiously.

"I want to build a permanent structure over the Rift, sealing it against access without permission. I figured that since I was taken by your men, that the land the Rift is currently on is a part of your kingdom."

"It is, but it is nigh unto indefensible. You have my blessings to build over it. You have but to ask if you need assistance."

"Recon group, come in please." Nikki's voice sounded over the radio.

"Ajax speaking." Ajax said over the radio. "We're in a meeting with the king, can it wait ten minutes?"

"Just wanted to make sure you weren't dead by now." Nikki said.

"Roger that, I'll tell you all about what's been going down as soon as we're done here, Ajax out." Ajax returned the radio to his pocket.

Ruensnarl looked at Ajax with interest evident on his face. "What was that black box you held in your hand?"

"A radio." Ajax replied. "It allows for communication across large distances."

"I do not believe we have any other business to discuss," Ruensnarl said. "and I am late for a council meeting."

"At least you had a good reason." Ajax said. "It's not everyday you speak with a Rider. What do you call your race?"

"We are Remdella, the armored warriors." Ruensnarl replied.

"We are known as humans." Ajax replied. "Thank you for granting us an audience." he bowed before preparing to leave.

The king sighed, then said to the youth by his throne, "Call in the Council."

Amaranth consented to carry Doe back to the Rift, but only in her claws, stating that the seat of her Rider was reserved only for her Rider, and none other. Doe was unimpressed, but the three arrived near the Rift without incident.

Amaranth switched back to her human form just prior to landing, and the six Rift-travelers returned the way they had come.

_Finally, this chapter is done. I got sidetracked running up some stuff to an arc involving very little Rift work, and I got a bit preoccupied. Sorry!_

_Answers to Readers:_

_Master of the Blood Wolves: You may be right about the HP Unforgivables not being as good as Alagaesian battle magic, but it's lot cheaper, at least by my understanding of energy requirements. This enables Ajax to make a few metric tons of ammunition for his weapons, and lets him focus his prodigious energy into wards only. Not to mention, no magician from Alagaesia will expect a gun. Heck, no HP witch or wizard would either._

_Yes, Wier has had several mages on Atlantis for some time now, however, she trusts them more than the HP magicians, simply due to the fact that, while Ajax and Eragon and the others weren't flaunting their magic around all the time for all to see, they didn't obsessively keep it a secret either._

_My loose and lose are your too and to. I'll look into seeing that it gets corrected._


	4. Chapter 4

With the requisition order in, all Ajax could do was wait.

He had been flipping through the Rolodex he had in his room when the 'M' tab fell over.

"_Amaranth?"_ Ajax queried. _"What do you think about that thing I told you about, that mission I got from Merlin before he died?"_

"_That sounds interesting…what did you get yourself into before I came around to protect you from yourself?"_ Amaranth tossed back, cleaning her scales.

Ajax looked at her and rolled his eyes. _"Self-important much?"_ he snarked happily. _"Merlin wanted me to check up on his pet school, Hogwarts."_

Amaranth stopped cleaning herself and looked at her Rider. _"Well, that _is interesting." she said, changing to look human. "Say on."

Ajax grinned as he closed the lid on the Rolodex. "I told you about that little part of my life involving a certain device that ended up destroying the Ori, right?"

Amaranth nodded. "Get on with it, before I simply abandon this little formality we call speaking, and dredge the information from your mind. Nobody has ever held a secret from a dragon when they want the information."

Ajax glowered, but relented. "Fine. Merlin, with the help of four others, founded a school of magic, one that standardized magical education. He knew that, as all institutions do, Hogwarts would eventually break down from within. He charged me with finding out what had become of his school, and setting it to rights if it was still standing and had steered off course. I'm thinking that one Ajax Tone and one Amaranth Tone have been enrolled in Hogwarts this year?"

Amaranth quirked an eyebrow. "An interesting idea." she said. "Well, why not?" Her face took on a stressed look, as she focused on the knowledge ability that Thelduin had shared.

Before Ajax's eyes, she seemed to grow younger until she looked like she might have been eleven years old.

Ajax thought about it for a moment. "Try for fifteen rather than eleven." he said. "We'll be in Fifth year, unless you'd rather be in First year?"

Amaranth considered his words. "Fifth year would mean that we wouldn't have to hide as much of our abilities, and Aragon already taught us quite a bit about stick magic."

"It might be best if we don't mention the fact that we can do other forms of magic…an ace up our sleeve so to speak." Ajax warned. "Wandless is seen as something only the very powerful can do…with training."

"Well, we've had training." Amaranth said coyly. "Besides, it wouldn't be very good if someone thought they could control us, would it?"

"Oh, I'd let them think it…and then I'd let them thinking it turn around and bit them in the ass. We don't really want to attract any more attention than we'll already have from being exchange students. Some of the staff might know something's up, but not what…that's bound to be a headache…unless…" Ajax trailed off, lost in thought.

"Are you going to let me in on what you're thinking, or do I have to wait until your mind re-stabilizes?" Amaranth asked. "Trying to go in there with a nebulous idea floating around gives me a headache."

"We could tell the staff that we needed to go to a different school for a term, to get outside experiences. That's why we have an extra year." Ajax said. "I think it would work."

Three days later, Ajax had managed to pin down the quarters of a wizard by the name of John Dewlen.

"Excuse me, John, right?" Ajax asked.

"Yeah, what do you need?" the wizard asked. He was blending in with the mundane population rather well, dressed in the standard Atlantis uniform, and carrying his wand well out of sight.

"I was wondering if you were a wizard?"

John's eyes widened considerably. "Come in." he said hurriedly. Ajax and Amaranth walked in, and Ajax instinctively ducked left as an Obliviate flew past his head.

"My name is Ajax." he said, straightening up. "Care to tell me why you wanted to obliviate me?"

John's face changed to shock and then to awe as he realized who was in his quarters. "I am so sorry. I didn't realize." he apologized hurriedly. "Do sit down, I'll get some tea."

John came back a moment later with a tray that had three cups and a teapot. After expertly serving up the tea, John sat down. "What did you want with me?"

"Wasn't necessarily you." Ajax replied. "I knew there were wizards on Atlantis, but I've had some trouble tracking them down. You were the first one I was able to pin down, and that took me some time."

"So I was the most careless?" John asked.

"No, I just caught a lucky break when my detection grid started working right. You happened to be the closest."

"If you didn't want me specifically, what did you want?" Dewlen asked, setting down his teacup.

"I want to visit Hogwarts for one term," Ajax replied casually. "and I figured you might now how I would go about doing such a thing."

"I see." came the answer. He thought about it for several moments. "I can write a letter and then turn it into a portkey that will get my owl relatively close to Hogwarts."

Ajax shuddered at the thought. "I'd hate to subject an owl to that." he said. "Anything else that might work?"

"Well, I could make a port key that would send you across the pond."

"Wizards and port keys." Ajax muttered. "What if I were take a Jumper…a flying craft, and fly across to Britain before sending the letter? Could you direct me to a wizarding equivalent of a post office in Britain?"

"Certainly." the young wizard replied. He took out of a piece of parchment, and wrote down and address, along with direction for getting to Diagon Alley."

"Thank you much." Ajax said. "I'll see you later, but for now I must take my leave." With that, the avian-Rider stood up and exited with Amaranth close behind.

"That was strange." Dewley remarked to himself. After a moment, he shrugged before cleaning up the tea service and running to find out what Dr. Jackson needed today.

Ajax was sitting in the Jumper, scowling at the piece of paper that John had given him, as if it might crack under the pressure and tell him exactly what he wanted to know. Nothing happened and Ajax set it down on the dash with a sigh before taking off.

He made for space, aiming straight up to save on time. When he reached the correct point, he simply pushed the Jumper out of high atmosphere, falling to London. He stopped his rapid descent with about a thousand feet to spare, cloak already engaged.

He gently set the Jumper down on the ceiling of the Leaky Cauldron, and exited the Jumper. A disillusionment spell served to keep Ajax and Amaranth hidden from prying eyes, and Ajax looked around for several seconds before jumping down to the ground. Amaranth followed with all the grace of a dragoness.

"This is the place alright." Ajax said, looking up at the sign. "It would look really weird if we show up out of nowhere…let's go into the alley."

Once safely behind a Dumpster, Ajax undid the magic that had hidden them, and they walked out of the alleyway together, pausing before they entered the Leaky Cauldron.

"I need to access the Alley, please." Ajax said, approaching the bar.

"You don't know how to get in?" Tom asked sympathetically.

"No, nobody bothered to brief us on certain things, like how to get into Diagon Alley." Ajax said dourly.

"Well, I'd best show you then." Tom said. "You tap the bricks with your wand like so…" he tapped a series of bricks in order, and the gateway opened.

"Thank you very much for you help." Ajax said, handing the man a Galleon.

Tom's eyes widened considerably. "That's quite a bit." he said.

"I know." Ajax replied. "But seeing as how I prefer to pay based on services rendered…I think it's perfectly fair."

Tom pocketed the coin. "Well, best of luck to you, Americans, right?"

"Spot on." Ajax said, shaking his head in amazement. "Good guess." he walked through with Amaranth before the gateway closed, and Tom returned to his bar.

The first stop was Gringott's bank.

"Ah, Grand Master Bloodclaw, when did you get promoted to England?" Ajax asked, approaching the goblin.

"Two months ago." Bloodclaw replied.

"Does it pay better?" Ajax asked conspiratorially, leaning on the counter.

"Much." the goblin replied, a twinkle in his eyes. "But you weren't here to shoot the breeze with an old friend. How much do you need?"

"Three hundred of the shiny gold ones, plus however much would be required for a year at Hogwarts for two students." Ajax replied easily. "And of course, you'll need to deduct the nominal fees for transcontinental withdrawals and handling."

"Of course." Bloodclaw replied. "Wait here."

The goblin returned three minutes later with a bag in his hand. "This is sufficient for the tuition costs for two at Hogwarts, plus the required supplies and the three hundred Galleons that you asked for." the elderly goblin handed over the bag. "Sign here please." Ajax proceeded to do so, and then Bloodclaw said "By the way, it's Galleons, not 'shiny gold ones'. Say it with me. Gall-ee-ons."

"Galleons." Ajax replied. "Not to be confused with ships of the galleon class."

"Good to know." Bloodclaw said, satisfied. "Don't let me here you say it again."

"As always, it has been an honor to work with you." Ajax said, straightening. "May your gold flow like milk, and your enemies scream for mercy when they hear of your approach."

"May your gold flow like a river," Bloodclaw replied. "and may your enemies cower before the power of the dragon-flame."

The two nodded to each other in mutual respect when the front door opened, and Dumbledore walked in.

"Who's that?" Ajax asked.

"That would be one Albus Dumbledore." Bloodclaw replied. "He holds many positions of power, including Headmaster of Hogwarts."

"Great, thanks for the info." Ajax replied. He walked over to the elderly wizard.

"Are the one they call Dumbledore?" Ajax asked politely.

"Yes, why do you ask?" came the reply.

Ajax watched as the old wizard subtly shifted into 'kindly grandfather' mode. "Well, my name is Ajax Tone, and this is Amaranth Tone. We are interested in enrolling in Hogwarts as fifth year students."

"I see." Dumbledore replied. He wouldn't have to work hard to keep these two in the country, not hard at all! "I will see to it that you are on the rolls for this year."

"Great. I just need to collect whatever books and equipment is required, and we're ready. How do we get to Hogwarts?" Ajax replied.

The old man's eyes twinkled like mad. "Platform Nine and Three Quarters." he replied. "It's not really visible, it just looks like a Muggle brick wall between Nine and Ten, but you can slip right through at roughly three quarters the distance between the Ninth and Tenth platforms."

"Understood." Ajax replied. "Anything I need to get?"

"I have a list right here with me." Dumbledore replied. He cast a duplication spell on it, and handed the duplicate to Ajax. "Are you certain you will be able to handle fifth year course work, Ajax?" he asked, eyes still twinkling.

"Pretty sure." Ajax replied confidently. "I was in an apprenticeship for a year, which was a rather brutal hauling over the coals as I received quite a bit of training in multiple areas."

"One year?" Dumbledore asked. _"If he was trained in such a short period of time, he might be more susceptible to outside influence. I'll have to keep an eye out for him, make sure things happen for the Greater Good." _"Are you certain that one year is enough time to learn enough to be in the Fifth Year classes?"

"Yes. It was hard, but I adapted, as I've always had to. The means are almost always equal to the task, sir." Ajax replied. "I must get going, but it was a pleasure talking with you."

"Perhaps I could arrange for some lodgings at the Leaky Cauldron?" Dumbledore asked.

"_So it begins."_ Ajax thought to Amaranth. She agreed with him, saying _"He has all the signs of a meddler. We should go along with it for now…string him along I believe you might say._"

"_Good idea." _Ajax replied. Out loud however, he said "Why? I have safe and reliable transportation back home, and so long as I've got the time and date that I'm supposed to be at Nine and Three-Quarters, there should be no problem."

"Yes, but I realized why you look so familiar." Dumbledore said. "I wouldn't recommend going home, people might be trying to kill you."

"Oh." Ajax replied. "Then I should probably stay here, shouldn't I?"

"Yes." Dumbledore said kindly. "I'm glad you can see reason."

"Oh, I nearly forgot." Ajax said, suddenly. He turned around and walked to where Bloodclaw was watching the three people standing on the customer floor.

"If Dumbledore tries to access my account in any way, could you do something about it in such a way that he doesn't know he failed until it's far too late?" Ajax asked.

Bloodclaw, narrowed his eyes slightly at the Rider. "Why would I do that?"

"For Profit." Ajax said, using one of the Goblin magic words. "And for Revenge." he added, using the second Goblin magic word.

Bloodclaw's eyes widened slightly. "What do you have planned?"

"I don't know just yet. He's a manipulator of a rather high class, or at least, sees himself as such. I left Atlantis a mere two hours ago, and in that space of time, I have discovered that in the place I consider to be home, the people I call friends have turned against me and wish to do harm to my person. Or Dumbledore is lying." Ajax said, grinning.

"I see." Bloodclaw said. "I can do as you ask."

"Of course, you'll need a nominal fee." Ajax said, anticipating what the goblin was about to say. "Would three hundred galleons do?"

The goblin's eyes opened as wide as possible. "Of course. I will do everything in my power to help."

"Thanks. My your gold ever flow, and your enemies cry for mercy." Ajax turned and left the counter, leaving Bloodclaw to school his features into the sneering indifference that he maintained for most customers of Gringott's.

Ajax left the bank with Amaranth at his side, and Dumbledore briefly wondered if Ajax Tone was married to Amaranth Tone, or if he was her brother or cousin. Either way, it did not matter. Dumbledore needed to secure the account young Tone was using.

"Next!" Bloodclaw said, signaling that it was Dumbledore's turn. Dumbledore quickly conjured a note that stated Ajax Tone had surrendered control of the account to Albus Dumbledore until such time as he was an adult. He had also asked that Dumbledore become his guardian, both magical and otherwise, until he reached the age of eighteen.

Of course, Ajax was already past the age of eighteen, but Dumbledore didn't know, and Bloodclaw wasn't about to tell him that.

Ajax, on the other hand, was going through Diagon Alley in the carefree manner a student of fifteen might exhibit.

The first stop was Madame Milkin's shop, where they acquired robes for the school year.

"Hogwarts, I assume?" the matron asked.

"Yes. Expense is no issue, so please see that this vision of beauty receives only the finest robes." Ajax said.

Amaranth pinked at his words, but kept outwardly silent. _"Vision of beauty, eh?"_ she asked.

"_And we both know it, whether you look human or draconic."_ Ajax replied with a grin.

"_Scoundrel."_ Amaranth replied, smiling. She didn't really mean it.

"Well, the finest we have is either Acromantula Silk or dragonhide." Madame Milkin said, finishing with her measuring. "Any colors?"

"Green, and we'll go with the silk." Amaranth said, looking slightly sick. _"They use the skin of dragons for clothing here?"_

"_Unfortunately."_ Ajax replied sadly. _"The dragons here are seen as nothing more than dumb beasts, and the dragons have done nothing to prove otherwise. If I see one, I'll have to find out for myself. Many of the ingredients used for potion-based cures are dragon insert-item-of-choice-here, typically blood, and I know that heartstring is used as a wand core. It saddens me to think that seven or eight children get to learn how to use a wand at the expense of a dragon."_

"_I heartily agree."_ Amaranth shot back, angry. _"Learning magic is not as important when compared with killing a sentient being."_

"_There are debates about the ones here, but like I said, I will find out at the earliest opportunity."_ Ajax replied. _"Be calm though, I've seen you consciously use magic when you look human, and if you pull off accidental magic here, who knows what will happen."_

Amaranth nodded, and slowly, cautiously, her anger began to dissipate.

"Soul-bound?" Madame Milkin asked, going through the color palates. She bustled back to where the two were standing, carrying several swatches of green fabric with her.

"How did you know?" Amaranth asked, looking over the fabric pieces.

"You heard something that made you rather angry, though I don't know what, and the young man currently looking at various styles seemed to have a concerned look on his face. I saw it out of the corner of my eye. After several tense moments as your anger built up, it stopped building and began to dissipate, upon which he let out a relived sigh." The woman looked at Amaranth critically, then said, "While I will of course honor any requests you make, might I make a few suggestions?"

Amaranth nodded, upon which Madame Milkin took the fabric pieces and compared them with Amaranth's brilliant emerald eyes. "Hmm, these three and let's see…" she touched one of the robes with a fabric piece, and it took on the color of the piece that had touched the robe.

After nearly half an hour, Amaranth had made her selections, and Ajax moved up, ready to get his robes. He looked over the green patches, and selected a piece that matched the darker scales of Amaranth's draconic form.

"I'll take the standard style of robe." Ajax said. "I simply haven't the time right now to do all the fashion picking, no offence."

"None taken." Madame Milkin replied, finishing her measuring. "Your robes will be ready to be picked up tomorrow, and hers will be ready in three days. You can pick them up when they are ready, or if you're staying in the area, I can have them delivered when I finish the lot."

"I'm staying in a room at the Leaky Cauldron until such time as the Express is ready." Ajax said. "We will come back in three days. How much do I owe you?"

"Forty galleons." Madame Milkin replied.

"Question." Ajax said, holding up his hand. "Do people haggle over prices here like they might in say…India?"

"No." Madame Milkin replied.

"Thank you, I needed to make sure I wasn't insulting you by not bothering to haggle." Ajax counted out the coins, which were counted, then placed in a strongbox. "I'll be at the Leaky Cauldron if you need me. Good day." So saying, Ajax and Amaranth walked out.

They entered the gloom of Olivandier's wand shop, where the scent of a variety of woods and other materials hung heavy in the air.

Amaranth wrinkled her nose as the odors were stronger to her enhanced senses, and nearly knocked her off her feet.

"How interesting." an ancient man said, leaning in a doorway in the back. "I have not anticipated your arrival here."

"We are here to get wands." Ajax said.

"So I surmised." the elderly wizard replied. "Though I had no idea you would arrive."

The measuring tape flew around Amaranth, earning a raised eyebrow from the disguised dragoness. After several seconds, it moved on to Ajax, who did his best to ignore the tape. Once it was finished with it's inspection, it rolled up and placed itself in it's box.

Four hours went by, and in the end, Amaranth had a Black Ash wand, eleven and a half inches, with a core of faerie fire. Amaranth seemed pleased that she had a connection with fire, even in her human form.

Ajax ended up with a Mahogany and a core of phoenix ash, fourteen inches.

"So…" Ajax said, exiting the shop. "transfiguration and excellent defense against the dark arts. And you've got a wand excellent for charms. That makes us unstoppable, right?"

"No," Amaranth responded primly. "Being bonded makes us unstoppable."

"Ah." Ajax replied. _"I thought you being a dragon made us unstoppable."_

"Flattery will get you everywhere." Amaranth replied teasingly.

The hour was late and the sun was finishing it's freefall out of the sky, so Ajax and Amaranth decided to return to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Two beds, please." Ajax said, approaching the bar.

"How long ye be stayin?" Tom asked, reaching for the keys.

"Until the Express leaves." Ajax replied.

"Ah." was all Tom said. He found the key he was looking for, and handed it to Ajax. "That will be three galleons for your stay."

Ajax slid the coins across the bar to Tom, who put them in his pocket.

It wasn't five minutes later before the dragon and Rider were sleeping peacefully.

_Answers to Readers:_

_Master of the Blood Wolves: Shurt'ugal are known in most worlds across the galaxy, at least, to those worlds who have kept them in their history, rather than passing them off as mere tales to tell children at bedtime. As for plot twists, well, I'm sure that it could make waves._

_Mainn: Will do, thanks for reading!_


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, Ajax arose early, and went jogging through London with Amaranth before returning for breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron.

They entered Diagon Alley just as the shops were beginning to open, and finished their school shopping without incident before returning to the wand shop.

"You two again?" the aged wizard queried. "What would bring you two back so soon, other than deciding you wanted a wand holster?"

"Nothing." Ajax said. "We rushed out last night in a bit of a hurry, and hadn't bothered to think about getting a holster or wand care equipment."

"I see." the old man replied. "I have several fine dragonhide holsters in the sizes required, with-"

"NOT dragonhide." Amaranth stated firmly. "Anything else, but not dragonhide."

"Very well, I believe I still have a few fine dueling holsters made of leather around here…ah, there they are." So saying, the master craftsman presented the pair with a pair of plain leather holsters, before moving to a different section of the shop, where there were bottles of varying things, and rags for cleaning the wand with.

"They are equipped with charms for a quick draw, cannot be summoned away from the wearer, will protect the wand from all but the most grievous of magics used against the holster, and will size themselves specifically for your wand." he said, picking through the bottles. "HA!" he triumphantly withdrew a bottle of wood sealer from a cubbyhole. "This should keep your wand protected from dirt and dust and water. Once every two weeks should do the trick I think. And you must keep it clean. Each wand is unique, from the core used to channel your power, to the wood used to encase it, and to the filthy prints on the wood. The first is essential, the second aesthetic, and the third is disgraceful! Keep them clean, they will serve you well."

"Thank you sir." Ajax said, accepting the bottle and rags. "How much?"

"For all that? Five galleons."

Ajax nodded, as if he'd been expecting that, and counted out five gold coins. "Thank you again." Ajax said. "Have a nice day." Together, the dragon and Rider exited the shop, and Ollivander returned to his work on a holly and unicorn hair wand.

Ajax and Amaranth entered the bank and went over to where Bloodclaw was standing at the window.

"Do you have everything you need for your time at Hogwarts?" the goblin asked with a fearsome grin.

"I do indeed, Grand Master Bloodclaw. Did Dumbledore try anything?"

Bloodclaw looked around, and seeing how busy the floor was, said "I'll take you to a conference room, where we can't be heard."

Ajax nodded as Bloodclaw slammed the grate down, the word 'closed' clearly showing. Several patrons groaned at the thought of waiting longer, but Ajax paid them no mind, and followed the goblin to a conference room.

"Now we cannot be heard." Bloodclaw said. "Dumbledore locked down your account until such time as you are of age, and as you wanted to get into Fifth year at Hogwarts, he assumed that meant that you were fifteen."

"The meddler moves quicker than I expected." Amaranth said. "We may have a hard time playing with him once we enter his domain."

"We already have Occlumency and Legilimency well in hand." Ajax said. "It will be unlikely that he will gain access. If he does get in, it will be on my terms, and may include the Borg. I wonder what sort of psychological effects assimilation would have on the coot."

"He also withdrew the amount needed for a term at Hogwarts, and set up an automatic payment to Hogwarts for the next two terms." Bloodclaw continued.

"Great." Ajax said. "Just for the record, I never gave Dumbledore control over my holdings with Gringott's. I'll let the payment for this term slide, that should give me plenty of space financially. If I'm ever in Gringott's and Dumbledore is within earshot, I need you to inform me that Dumbledore has had the account sealed until I'm of age, and then cite whatever excuse he used. I need him to be as much in the dark about my maneuvers as possible."

"Understood." Bloodclaw said with a smile. "It is truly a rare privilege to work with someone as cunning and vindictive as yourself. How much authority do you have within Hogwarts that you can draw on?"

"The authority of a Shurt'ugal, and the authority given to me by Merlin to inspect his school and make course corrections." Ajax replied.

"Shurt'ugal?" Bloodclaw asked, suddenly very interested. "Come with me."

"Where?" Ajax asked, curious.

"To a vault." Bloodclaw replied. "I have instructions I must fulfill regarding yourself, if you are indeed Shurt'ugal."

"Really?" Ajax asked. "Instructions from whom?"

"They originated from a client named Eragon. He spoke of Bid'aum as a friend, though I know not who this Bid'aum may be. I was the tenth goblin assigned to this vault, all the others have been given the instructions regarding vault 69, but none have been able to discharge their duties."

They arrived at the vault, and Ajax stepped out of the cart with a relived sigh, glad to be back on mostly-solid ground.

Emblazoned on the door was the Gedwëy Ignasia, the official sign of the Dragon Riders.

A curious expression settled itself on Ajax's face as he beheld the door. Suddenly though, he seemed to snap out of it, raising his left hand, as if to direct magic.

"By the power of the dragon-flame, allow this Rider and his dragon access!" he said boldly.

A chill filled the air, and Ajax allowed his arm to fall back to his side. Bloodclaw looked on in wonder as the seal of the Dragon Riders began glowing ever brighter until it overwhelmed everyone's ability to see before abruptly fading away.

"You have called, human. I am Eragon, the founder of the Dragon Riders. Step forward, that I might test your claims as a Rider." came a voice.

When Ajax regained his power of sight, he saw what looked like a poor hologram of someone in his late thirties, dressed as he had seen travelers in Alagaesia dress, with a sword on his hip, and a dangerous look in his eye.

Ajax took three steps forward, coming to a stop directly in front of the apparition, and Amaranth joined him a moment later.

"Why have you approached, beautiful lady? It was not your voice who called out to me on the power of the dragon-flame."

"We are bonded." Amaranth said. "Where he goes, I go to keep him from shoving his nose where it does not belong."

"I see." the ghost replied, amusement evident in his tone. To Ajax he said "Show your mark. I will judge it's authenticity."

Ajax removed his glove, and held out his palm towards Eragon for inspection.

The ghost grabbed it at once, and pressed hard on it with magic. It tingled, but it did not hurt.

"You may pass, heir of the Riders. I have found your mark to be genuine." So saying, the ghost vanished from sight, and the door clicked from within.

Ajax reached out and grasped the handle of the door, pulling it open on well-oiled hinges.

Inside lay several weapons, as well as multiple stasis chambers containing scrolls of parchment, looking almost as fresh as the day they were written on.

Ajax broke the seal on the containers, and unrolled the scroll. He looked over the elvish glyphs that covered the parchment, and found it to be a journal, less personal than a diary, and typically as valuable if not more valuable than most diaries.

He placed it back in the container, closing it, then looked around at the other items Eragon had left behind. Several swords were resting on racks littering the room, and Bloodclaw examined one sword in particular.

"This sword was commissioned." he said to Ajax. "This is the mark of it's maker. A great goblin smith, in his era, but it was never returned as it should have been."

"Please explain." Ajax said briskly.

"When you commission a weapon from a goblin, it is with the understanding that it belongs to it's creator…it is merely on loan, and must be returned, usually upon the death of the loanee." Bloodclaw said gravely. "This weapon was never returned. As you are now the owner of this vault, will you return the blade willingly, or must the goblin nation send a representative to duel against you to claim possession?"

Something about how Bloodclaw said it made Ajax think that if he did not return the blade, that it would be a serious breach of honor between himself and the goblins.

"I will return the blade willingly." Ajax replied. "Is there someone in particular I must present the blade to, or are you able to simply claim it for the goblins and see to it that it goes where it needs to?"

"I will inform King Ragnok of your descision. This blade has been outstanding for many years, and it will be good to have it returned." Bloodclaw said, returning the blade to the rack. "You must present it to King Ragnok personally."

"I see…" Ajax replied, moving on to the next thing. It was a blackened staff with a black crystal embedded in the top. "I'll need to see what wood this is…" he mused. "It was probably used as a foci for some of the heavier magics of the day. I wonder how it got blackened like this."

"_I am made from the wood of an ash tree."_ A voice said. _"And Time is what blackened me. I return to my former glory with a new Rider to serve!" _With that exclamation, a small silvery wave of power slid down the staff, cleansing the blackness from the wood and crystal.

The crystal was a clear blue, shaped vaguely like the control crystals from a Goa'uld hyperdrive tray.

"_What are you?"_ Amaranth asked tensely.

"_I am the combined knowledge of Eragon and Bid'aum, the first dragon riders. You might say I'm a cross between an encyclopedia and an artificial intelligence."_ the stick replied.

"_And your name?"_ Ajax asked simply.

"_I was once known as Ice-Fire, named thus for my crystal and my affinity for fire, despite the fact that I am made of wood."_ came the reply.

"_Can you change shape or size? Wizards these days don't seem to use staffs anymore, and there is a potential enemy I do not wish to alert to my presence as a player of this mental battlefield." _Ajax said. _"To put it another way, Dumbledore sees me as a pawn, or at least, I hope that's how he sees me. I need him to be as unaware as possible, and I can see that you would be a valuable resource for this fight."_

"_I see!"_ the stick cried gleefully. _"I can change as needed, but I would prefer to be in constant contact with you…otherwise I am unable to use telepathy at all. The only reason I can communicate with your dragon is because you are holding me, enabling me to speak to her through you. Let me think…"_

The wood shrunk before changing to look similar to a wand with four arms coming out near each end. _"Place me on your arm, and I can hold on until you wish to remove me."_ it said when it finished changing.

Ajax complied, and the arms clamped down on his forearm enough to hold it in place, no matter what Ajax were to do. "Well, that's cool." Ajax said. "What else did he leave?"

The rest turned out to be piles of gold and silver, filling most of the vault.

"I believe my business here is finished, Grand Master Bloodclaw." Ajax said. "Should I bring the blade up with me, or have an appointment?"

"Bring the blade. For weapons such as this, I believe that no appointment is needed." Bloodclaw replied.

"You have done the goblin nation a great service." Ajax said, boarding the cart.

"Oh? How's that?" Bloodclaw asked, starting the cart on it's return trip.

"If you had not told me of the weapon's significance, and the goblin customs concerning your weapons, I would never have known to return it, and it would have still been outstanding." Ajax replied.

"Aye, King Ragnok will likely reward me quite richly for having been the one to advise you on that." Bloodclaw replied.

The cart came to a stop, and the three occupants exited the cart. Bloodclaw led them back to the main floor, where he told them to wait for King Ragnok to come.

In the five minute waiting period, Ajax had discovered that the blade was masterfully crafted, properly balanced, wickedly sharp, and completely at odds with his fighting style. He could have made it work, if necessary, in a situation where the survival instinct had kicked in, but as it stood, he would dueled poorly if he was forced to use that blade. He had just returned it to the sheath when Bloodclaw returned, followed by a goblin who stood head and shoulders above the others. The tellers all bowed as Ragnok passed, before returning to their customers.

The king came to a stop in front of Ajax, who bowed in the formal style taught him by Aragon. "King Ragnok of the goblin nation." Ajax said, straightening. "I salute you."

The king nodded in acceptance of the gesture. "Bloodclaw said you had business with me personally."

"He speaks the truth." Ajax replied. "I was taken to the vault set up by Eragon, and it was there that this blade was recovered. Bloodclaw told me of your customs regarding weapons like these, and I find it to be my honorable duty to return this blade to your people." So saying, Ajax handed the goblin king the sword.

"Not many wizards would do this." Ragnok said, looking at the blade. "Most would have kept it for themselves, not caring about the contract. It has gotten to be so bad that our artisans will no longer allow such works of skill to be sold to anyone outside the goblin kingdom."

"It has been an honor." Ajax said stiffly. "But the hour grows late, and there are other demands on my time. I cry your pardon for my haste in closing this meeting." So saying, Ajax bowed again, then left the bank.

The next day, Ajax stopped by Madame Milkin's to retrieve the robes he had ordered, and they spent the rest of the day practicing walking about in robes, seeing as how they would be doing a lot of it in the days to come.

Ajax had stopped by a jewelry shop to obtain a tasteful gold necklace, which was then properly warded against almost anything. It couldn't stop the Aveda Kedavera, or Imperio and Crucio, for that matter, but it could stop anything else.

Amaranth put it on, promising that she wouldn't take it off. Ajax had, of course, enchanted it with the American wand that didn't have the British trace on it, but the Ministry didn't need to know that.

It was that evening that they found out an interesting new facet of Amaranth's ability to change form. She had changed back to the dragoness form in a flurry of robes, and when she landed on Ajax's bed, Ajax noticed a line of gold scales along her neck.

"_Amaranth, look at yourself through my eyes."_ Ajax said slowly.

She complied, and recoiled as she realized that the necklace Ajax had given to her had become part of her. _"That is very strange."_ She said, withdrawing. She changed back, removed the necklace, then reverted to her dragoness form again. The gold line was gone.

"So, your clothes translate into scales." Ajax said, amused.

"Don't even think it." Amaranth said, putting the necklace back on. "You even try to pull off a stunt like that, and I'll lick you."

Ajax shuddered. "I won't try anything like that." he said. He had seen a draconic tongue in action, stripping a carcass of flesh and skin as easily as pulling a tarp off of a pile of wood. He was under no illusions as to what that would do to his skin and clothes. Immortal he might be, but that only meant that Amaranth could dish out more powerful punishment as she deemed necessary, and not worry about accidentally killing him.

The next day found Ajax and Amaranth going through the barrier at six thirty in the morning, well ahead of schedule for the train.

Ajax tsked with disappointment and disbelief. "This rolling hunk from way back when is the best they've got? I'd have hoped for a diesel at the least, or maybe an electric…perhaps even something powered by magic?"

"They did seem a bit behind the times back in Diagon Alley." Amaranth said quietly.

Ajax nodded, and climbed aboard the train. The two sat, and Ajax pulled out a chessboard.

After two hours, they had exhausted their chess pieces, who were not even bothering to scream when taken any more, and starting to simply sit down rather than move when ordered. They had read through the various texts, and came to the agreement that the Defense book was boring and entirely ineffective at the same time.

"I hope there will be some practice we can do, this seems to be rather poor material." Amaranth said. "All theory here, nothing you can actually work with."

"Yeah. Potions seems to be interesting though, sounds kinda like magical cooking." Ajax replied. "This should be quite fun."

The pair had lunch, after which Ajax used his new wand to vanish the crumbs before sliding it back into his holster.

At two o'clock, the conductor's whistle blew, and the train began moving. The Hogwarts Express was finally on it's way to Hogwarts.

_Answers to Readers:_

_Master of the Blood Wolves: TI is a bit starved for inspiration at the moment, sorry. Ajax isn't exactly a strange name, and the surname of 'Tone' that was adopted for the school year also muddied the waters considerably. He wasn't suspicious because he had seen that Ajax was a (relatively) powerful wizard who had been in a school that had closed down at the end of the term, and so Ajax had to find a new school, and was looking around for a new one._


	6. Chapter 6

Ajax was reviewing schematics for the _Lyrical Fire_, trying to trace a power drain he had noticed the last time he had used it.

Amaranth was similarly occupied, examining the power linkages that allowed Ajax to channel his power into the faux guitar.

It was silent in the compartment, save for the sounds of the train moving, until a boy with blond hair and matching bookends on either side of him entered the compartment.

"You are in my compartment." he announced, upon seeing the two. "You will now leave."

Amaranth looked up at him, with a mixture of pity and amusement written across her delicate features.

"I didn't see your name anywhere on here." Ajax remarked, flipping a page. "And believe me, I checked. I even checked with others to see that it was first-come, first-served. Your claim is irrelevant."

"Which just goes to show that you're a Mudblood." the blond haired boy said. "Why someone so obviously pureblood as this lady here would stay with you is beyond me, except maybe out of sheer pity."

"What is your name?" Amaranth asked sharply. The blond boy drew himself up and declared "My name is Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

"_James Bond much?"_ Ajax asked Amaranth. She chuckled at the joke, and Draco looked offended.

"Is there something you find amusing about my name?" he asked heatedly.

"I only asked because I wanted to know who I was about to knock out." Amaranth replied levelly. "Insulting my partner is not the best way to get on my good side, although I will admit it works wonders for getting on my bad side."

Draco blinked, surprised that she would stand up for a mud blood. "He's just a filthy mud blood." Draco protested. "Why would you stay with him?"

"Pardon me, but we're from America." Ajax said. "I'm afraid I've never heard the term mud blood used in my presence before. Care to explain?"

"A mud blood is someone who has no parents that can use magic…such people are called muggles. If a pureblood, such as myself, were to marry a mud blood, my heir would be a half-blood." Draco explained, acting as if he was talking to a small child.

"And…why would I care about such terms? As long as I can use magic, it's all good, right?" Ajax asked, not getting the point.

"Purebloods were meant to rule society." Draco said snobbishly. "Half-bloods were meant to work, and mud bloods should be wiped out."

"Eventually though, everyone would be pureblooded." Ajax said. "If I'm understanding correctly, two half-blood people will have a pure blood heir."

"I don't know why you aren't insulted yet, but maybe everyone is simply stupid in America. Being a mud blood is the worst possible thing you could be, short of a murderer." Draco stated.

"In that case," Amaranth said, laying aside the schematics and standing "you have insulted the person dearest to my soul, and you will leave, or I will force you to leave."

Draco and his bookends had their wands out and pointed at Amaranth and Ajax, who had followed suit a fraction of a second later.

"We will leave." Ajax said. "I don't particularly care for the idea of starting a row while aboard a train, and the year is yet young. I have far more important things to do with my time, and if insulting me on the basis of my blood is how you get off, then I'm happy for you. I have a power drain to trace."

So saying, Ajax replaced his wand in the dueling holster, and began gathering up his gear while Amaranth placed the schematics in a folder.

"I'll see you at school." Ajax said evenly, exiting the compartment. "I do hope you can be a little more civil towards me next time we meet."

The compartment door clicked closed, leaving Ajax and Amaranth in the walkway outside.

"Why did you allow him to run us out like that?" Amaranth asked. "We could have held our own, even with having to deal with one bookend each."

"Because I really didn't like the idea of starting a fight on the train, besides which, we need to lay low, remember? No use of the Aveda while we've got tracers on us, that wouldn't be good at all." Ajax said. "I liked it even less that you did, he positively reeked of spoiled, snobbish, corrupt bureaucrat in training."

They walked through the various cars, finding every compartment to be full. Finally though, they ran up against a compartment with two empty seats. Ajax knocked, then entered.

"Do you mind if we join you?" he asked. "Some punk by the name of Malfoy Draco Malfoy kicked us out of the compartment we'd been sitting in for the past four hours or so."

"Go ahead." a dark haired boy replied.

"So what happened?" a red-headed boy asked, sniggering at the 'Malfoy Draco Malfoy' comment.

Ajax looked at him for a moment, as if trying to process what had been said. "Amaranth and I arrived at King's Cross four hours before the train was leaving. We found an empty compartment and sat down, after checking in every way we knew for any indications there might be that it belonged to someone else. As there was no nameplate, no magical signature, no wards or anything else, we assumed that it was fair game. Malfoy Draco Malfoy disabused us of the notion, along with those bookends of his."

"Bookends?" asked a bushy-haired girl.

"Yeah, they looked kinda like a matched set of thugs there for his protection. We left at wand point." Ajax replied. "I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Ajax Tone, though I typically go by Ajax, and this lovely vision of beauty is Amaranth Tone." Upon seeing the look in the red-haired boy's eyes, Ajax added. "She's taken." The disappointment in the kid's eyes was profound. "What are your names?"

The bushy haired girl decided to play tour-guide, saying "My name is Hermione Granger, this is Harry Potter, and this is Ronald Weasley. He's Neville Longbottom, and that's Luna Lovegood."

"And do I call you by your last names, like Potter and Granger, or first names, like Harry and Hermione?" Ajax asked.

Hermione pinked, but recovered amazingly quickly. "Last names, unless you are asked to call them by their first name."

Ajax nodded in acceptance. "Call me Ajax, it's the name I'm most likely to answer to when called."he said, grinning. He put the gear in the overhead racks, then sat back down. "I'm glad to get those out of my pockets." he said. "Shrunken stuff always feels funny, if you catch my drift."

Harry nodded before returning to his chess game against Ron, who was winning at the moment, and Hermione was about to return to her book when she saw Ajax pulling out the schematics for the magical amplifier.

"What's that?" she asked innocently.

"Here we go." Ron muttered. Hermione ignored him.

"Top-secret, powerful, dangerous, and not working right." Ajax replied easily.

Hermione's eyes narrowed, and Ajax found himself unconsciously backing up in his seat. "Mate." Ron said, looking at Ajax. "Hermione's a study freak. She lives for books and information. If she wants what you've got, she'll get it. Just a friendly word of warning for you." he looked down at the board, moved a piece, then said "Checkmate." On the board, Harry's king removed it's crown, and tossed it aside before falling to it's knees.

"Spill word of this, and I assure you, Amaranth and I will be VERY extremely unhappy." Ajax said, relenting. "But I don't want to dodge you all year as you try to find this. Amaranth and I are working on locating a sizable power drain in my amplifier."

"Amplifier?" Hermione repeated. "For magic?"

"Yeah." Ajax said, wordlessly duplicating the documents. "Look this over and see if you recognize any of it." he said, handing over the small sheaf of papers. "Most of the runes are Alterran."

Hermione accepted the sheaf of papers and began looking through them. "This is…this is NEWT level work." she said.

"So?" Ajax asked, shrugging. "We had good teachers."

"Well, I'd jump at the chance to study under them." Hermione muttered.

"Really?" Ajax asked. "It took me one rather excruciating year to get to the level I'm at now. I spent a month of downtime on some beach in an isolated area of the world, watching the waves come and go while drinking up lots of orange juice. I had the pulp kind so that I'd be able to have a meal while drinking my OJ. My brain is still uncurling from the fetal position. Are you certain you could withstand that level of intensity?"

"I think I could." Hermione said smugly. "But if you're already at NEWT level work, why bother with Hogwarts?"

"Real reason or cover story?" Ajax asked, putting away his schematic set.

"The real reason, of course." Hermione said, looking affronted.

"Swear to secrecy, all of you?" Ajax responded. "This can't get out until I'm ready for the whole thing to go down."

"Is it destructive to the school?" Hermione demanded sternly.

"No, though it is entirely likely that several changes may be made in the near future." Ajax replied easily.

Hermione scowled. "Fine. Will the rest of you swear it as well?" she asked, pulling out her wand. Everyone agreed, even Luna.

"I, Hermione Jane Granger, do swear on my magic that I will not reveal Ajax's true reason behind going to Hogwarts."

"I, Harry James Potter, do swear on my magic that I will not reveal Ajax's true reason behind going to Hogwarts."

"I, Ronald Bilius Weasley, do swear on my magic that I will not reveal Ajax's true reason behind going to Hogwarts."

"I, Neville Longbottom, do swear on my magic that I will not reveal Ajax's true reason behind going to Hogwarts."

"I, Luna Lovegood, do swear on my magic that I will not reveal Ajax's true reason behind going to Hogwarts."

"So Mote It Be." they all said together, and the white lights coming from their wands wrapped around them before sinking in and disappearing.

Just then, the sweets lady came in, and Ajax reviewed the tray before passing on it. Ron was amazed.

"So, you have Muggle tooth healers too, huh?" he asked.

Ajax raised an eyebrow. "No." he said, grabbing his backpack. "I prefer salty." Seeing as how everyone else had sweets a-plenty, Ajax opened the bag of pretzels with a squeal of plastic, withdrew a handful, then passed it to Amaranth.

The sweets lady left, pushing her cart down the hall, and Ajax pulled out his unregistered wand and began sealing the compartment.

Ron made an approving noise. "Hey, my brother Bill, he works for Gringott's as a curse-breaker, he's taught me a few of those!"

Ajax kept going, and Amaranth joined in with her American wand. Five minutes later, the five teens got the impression that the Tones were seriously paranoid.

"I, Ajax Kingkiller, do swear on my magic that what I will say while this compartment is secure is entirely true. So Mote It Be."

"Kingkiller?" Hermione asked, shrinking back slightly.

"Relax, I won't kill you." Ajax said, sitting down. "King Galbatorix was an evil king. He ruled a small kingdom…small by today's standards mind you, it was quite large for the technology level there. Had he merely been an evil king, I might not have killed him. He was no mere king, but a magician, a Dragon Rider, to be exact. On a different world, in the Pegasus galaxy, dragons are intelligent and strong. The Dragon Riders, at their peak, ruled the land as a form of police. After all, who would draw a blade if they knew that a massive fire-breathing lizard with more wisdom than even a king could hope for would descend from the skies to put an end to the violence in short order? Galbatorix was found worthy of becoming a Rider, and when his training was complete, he and three of his friends, Riders all, flew North with their dragons, and slept on the great Northern ice-pack. Urgals found them as they slept, and killed them all, except for Galbatorix. He lost his dragon that night, and the loss drove him mad. He sought death like a man possessed, but even Death was afraid of him, and fled from him. Eventually though, his mind recovered slightly, enough to hope that maybe the Riders Council would grant him another dragon. With that hope, he staggered toward the nearest Rider outpost, and a farmer brought him in, having recognized the Gedwëy Ignasia. For three days and three nights he slept as his body fought off the fever. On the fourth day, he arose and presented himself before the Council, and demanded another dragon. They saw then that he was mad, insane with the loss of his dragon, and they rejected his plea.

He stole a dragon and used dark magics to simulate the Rider's Bond. He gathered Thirteen others, and whispered in their ears. With the growing discontent in the Foresworn, the Riders eventually fell, attacked from within by people they had once called their own. Fourteen Riders, fourteen dragons, and they devastated the Riders as they once were.

The Thirteen died off with their dragons, never of natural causes. Brom, one of the ones who was against Galbatorix, arranged the downfall of several of the Foresworn.

I smell evil. I smell it even now, in this room, coming from you." Ajax nodded towards Harry, who backed up under Ajax's gaze. "I smelled the indescribable evil coming from the mad king, and, because of the immortality gained from the bond of the Rider, I knew that he would never die naturally. I slew him, though it was accidental. I intended to bring him to trial, but he deliberately stole the satisfaction of a trial from the people of Alagaesia. So yes, I have the rightful title of Kingkiller, but my killing, when needed, is something that most societies would agree was justified. Either way, that's not my purpose for going to Hogwarts. I am not here for blood."

The others in the compartment relaxed slightly. "I am here, because Merlin asked me to check up on his pet school."

"Did he just loose his magic?" Ron asked.

"Didn't look like it." Neville said.

"_Lumos._" Ajax said, raising his wand. It glowed brightly. _"Nox."_ The light went out. "As you can see, I have told the truth. I am here to ascertain whether or not Hogwarts is still following the mission as laid out by Merlin and his protégés."

The compartment was quickly awash with conversation while Ajax calmly nibbled at a pretzel.

"Merlin died ages ago!" Hermione said, pulling out her books. "It says so right here. Morgan Le Fay killed him, by trapping him in a large rock."

Ajax heaved a sigh, the pulled out a small bowl with a sphere suspended above the bowl. He then put his wand to his temple and withdrew a memory before dropping it into the bowl.

_Answers to Readers:_

_Master of the Blood Wolves: Yes, a Rider could make ignoring the Imperious curse look easy, but Ajax can't block the thing. As for Olivander, he's old, his mind might be going just a bit. Besides, I didn't really think there were very many dots for him to connect, he wouldn't have gotten much of a picture at all._


	7. Chapter 7

A silvery mist floated up from the bowl and touched the orb, turning into a silver pillar. A moment later, the sphere began projecting images from the memory in the bowl.

Daniel reached for the holographic stone again, and his hand swiped through air once again. The obelisk powered up and fired, and the surroundings changed, though Ajax had felt no movement whatsoever. He slowly spun around, taking in a view of the cave, then something caught his eye.

"Hey guys…" he said, stepping closer. "Check this out. Daniel, what's this say?"

"Erm, it translates to…here lies Myrdiin, last of the knights of the Round." Daniel's voice was full of wonder at what he had just read. "We just found Merlin!"

"So, what's he sealed in?" Cameron asked, touching the crystalline surface. "Cold."

"Yeah, that's a stasis chamber." Daniel explained. He moved to the nearby computer, and manipulated the controls for several moments. "Got it!" he called.

Sure enough, the crystal substance that had suspended Merlin's aging was receding. Soon, the aged man was clear of the stuff, and he pitched forward.

Ajax caught the man, and helped steady him while scanning the room for a stick or a staff of some kind.

"Cam, help him to a spot where he can sit or lie down, I'll get his staff." he said.

"When did you take charge?" the man addressed as Cam groused good naturedly.

"When Landry gave me the mission to find that damn inter-reality jig-saw puzzle." Ajax replied happily. He returned to the aged man, carrying a staff he had found.

"Mauros? How are you?" Ajax asked, concerned.

"How do you know that name?" Merlin asked quietly.

"I've done a lot of traveling; Morganna was thorough when she broke the puzzle tablet and hid it in every reality between here and the crack of dawn." Ajax said. "I know your name was Mauros, before you Ascended, and then you gave that up sometime around the time of King Arthur. You didn't go all the way though, you retained much of your new knowledge and power, so you could create a weapon to destroy the Ori. You were then known as Myrdiin, which, through the course of time, shifted to Merlin."

"I wasn't the only magic show in town." Merlin said. "But I had the most power. I helped King Arthur, yes, but I did something else. Send away the others, this is for your ears only."

"Hey guys." Samantha said, striding into the cave. "There's nothing around except for the obelisk in front of the gate."

"I hate to be a drag, but could you and the entire team go investigate that obelisk so Merlin here can talk to me alone?" Ajax asked Cameron in a low tone.

"The old guy has secrets marked 'for your ears only' eh? Sure, we'll give you five minutes, but then we need to get down to business." Mitchell said. "Round 'em up, guys. The obelisk seems really uninteresting, and I think we should all do a really thorough inspection of said uninteresting hunk of granite."

The hum of voices grew quieter as SG-1 exited the cave, and Ajax returned to Merlin's bedside. "I founded a school for witches and wizards such as myself. I saw how lacking England was in terms of a standardized education system, and with the help of Godric, Salazaar, Helga and Rowena, I founded Hogwarts. My intent was to allow any child, whether born of magical kin or not, to have the chance for a good education. However, I am well aware that much time has passed. What year is it?"

"The year Two Thousand and five Anno Domini." Ajax replied. "Why?"

"Because Time acts adversely on all things of this plane." Merlin said. "Our bodies, governments, by now, Hogwarts is likely destroyed, or strayed far from the path I had intended. Will you grant the request of a dying man?"

Ajax bowed his head in thought. "Yes." he said. "I will try my best."

"Then go. Go to Hogwarts and if the castle is destroyed, if the name is no longer spoken of save the history texts, then see to it that a school for all wizards and witches is available, one that stands with pride and honor. If, on the other hand, the castle and the school have survived the rigors of Time, then see whether or not the systems within have survived, and right the wrongs you may find. Education is a precious gift, one I would have offered to all children. No, no. Forget that last sentence. Education is a right, one I do not want denied one child or another due to blood. Take this memory, you may use the pensieve built into the wall there. Find the location of Hogwarts, go there, and do accordingly."

"I will do my best, sir." Ajax said.

Merlin laughed a little. "I have but a few hours left on this plane. Take this," he pushed his ring into Ajax's hand. "and my staff. If any dispute your authority through me, show them the ring and staff. Show them your memories of this place and our conversation."

"I will go as soon as I am reasonably able." Ajax promised. "You have my word, good in over fifty different realities."

"Ganas Lal must have kept you busy." Merlin laughed quietly. "Good luck."

A smile pulled at Ajax's face. "Luck is for noobz," he said. "but I appreciate the sentiment."

"Good." Merlin said. "Now, I've rested enough, help me to the terminal over there, I have work to do."

Ajax helped him over to the strange computer, and Merlin began to manipulate it with deft fingers.

A moment later, SG-1 walked in, and Vala promptly declared that she was bored, and this was boring, and why couldn't they just skip ahead to the bit about treasure?

She was just as promptly sent back outside to watch for any sign of Adria while Carter attempted to take apart the obelisk with Baal.

Ajax couldn't quite wrap himself around the idea of letting him live, but Carter seemed adamant that he was still useful.

Merlin built something with holograms in the air, and then it drifted down and was solid. Ajax raised his eyebrows. "Cool." he said. "I don't think I've ever seen that type of construction before."

Merlin, however, was not doing well. He released the controls of the computer and reeled back to the bed, which he would have fallen heavily against had Cam and Ajax not moved in to ease him to the bed.

"Wine." Merlin whispered. "Bring me the wineskin."

"Wine really wouldn't be good for you right now." Mitchell said, looking at the aged wizard.

"He doesn't care, Cameron." Ajax said. "He told me he's got just a few hours to live. He's all in, the poor guy. Let him have his wine in his last moments of life." He handed the wineskin to Merlin, who opened it and drank deeply.

"Much…better." he said, handing it back to Ajax. "…better…" A few seconds later, Merlin breathed his last, and Ajax closed the man's eyes before placing a penny over each eye. "Goodbye." Ajax whispered.

"Why the pennies?" Cameron asked, watching Ajax carefully.

Ajax shrugged, saying "Save a penny for the ferryman." he said. "Two means he'll probably make it."

"If that's the case, put dollar coins over my eyes when I go!" Mitchell joked. He got serious though, looking at the computer. "Isn't that the same kind of computer that kinda messed with General O' Neill's head?"

"Yep." Ajax said. "But I don't think it does the same thing that it did to General O' Neill. It doesn't have the head clamp on it."

"Well, I think we should try and finish this device." Daniel said, waving towards the odd platform on the table.

"Your head." Ajax said indifferently. "I for one, am not about to put my head near the thing."

Daniel shrugged, then walked over to it. It clamped his head in, as other computers had done to O' Neill, then released him a moment later.

"I'm okay." Daniel said. "That was weird though."

"Are you sure?" Cameron asked, concerned.

"Yeah…I'm sure." Jackson replied. "But now I've got the knowledge Merlin had for the weapon."

"Great! That means you can build Merlin's weapon thing, right?" Mitchell asked, in a hopeful tone of voice.

"Yeah, I think so." Jackson replied. He removed his glasses and rubbed at his eyes. He went back to the computer, and Mitchell blocked Jackson. "Whoa, hold up. That thing just hugged your face, and you want to go for it again?"

"It probably already did what it was supposed to do." Jackson replied patiently. "and that's the same device Merlin was using to build the weapon."

"Fine." Mitchell said. "But I'm getting you out of there if I need to."

The machine did not reach out and grip Jackson's head this time, and he began to work on building the parts required for the weapon.

The image faded away, and Ajax poured he memory into an unbreakable vial before stowing it and the pensieve away.

"All that you saw in that memory took place on a world about halfway across the galaxy." Ajax said, sitting down again. "I have his ring and his staff, and I have his instructions and authority. My investigation began the moment I stepped aboard the train, and I've already learned some things that would disappoint Merlin considerably."

"Such as?" Neville prompted.

"The term 'mud blood' is an insult, right? Something along the lines of 'whore', save for the fact that mud blood could be applied to anyone, male or female. Am I understanding the term correctly?"

"Yeah, you've already gotten that one?" Hermione asked.

"Yes. Merlin would have been most displeased had he witnessed Malfoy calling me a mud blood. I will admit that I am, using the definition of the word, a mud blood, in that I have no magical relations. I couldn't even use magic until a year or so back, the day I met Amaranth."

"You couldn't use magic, then you met her, and now you can use magic? How does that work?" Hermione asked. "I thought you were born with it, or you weren't. Nobody has ever had the ability to do magic just show up like that."

"That's because you don't know about the Dragon Riders." Amaranth said coolly, putting down the schematic set.

"I, Amaranth Skulblaka, do swear on my magic that what I will say while this compartment is secure is true."

The white flash of magic around Amaranth confirmed that the oath had taken.

"I am a dragon, and Ajax is my Rider. He stole my egg from the caste of the oath-breaker king and I hatched for him. It is the Rider's bond that allows someone who did not previously have magic to use magic, as well as triggering the talents of the mind, namely telepathy, though there have been some instances of tele-kinesis."

"You don't look like a dragon." Ron said. "My brother Charlie is a dragon handler, and he's shown me most of the various types of dragons. You aren't a dragon."

"You dare call me a liar?" Amaranth asked, deadly quiet.

Ron quailed under her stern countenance, but held on to his line of logic. "You aren't a dragon." he repeated firmly. After a moment, he brightened as he realized that Amaranth had lost her magic, seeing as how she swore to tell the truth and then said she was a dragon!

"I am a dragon." Amaranth stated. "You will see."

A rippling distortion of the air surrounded her for a moment, obscuring the other's ability to see her, and when it cleared, what was very clearly a dragon, roughly the size of a St Bernard stood in front of the seat she had just been occupying.

Ronald gulped as he realized that there was in fact a dragon in the compartment.

"_Do you still say I am not a dragon?"_ Amaranth's voice boomed in his head.

Ronald jumped when she made contact, and he frantically shook his head no.

"Good." Amaranth said, back in human form again.

"So, a technicality, right?" Hermione asked. "You are a dragon, in your animagus form. That's the truth, just not all of it, right?"

Amaranth smiled at Hermione. "I like how your mind works." she said. "You will go far one day. In answer to your statement, you are close. I am human, in my animagus form. You cast _animagus revealio_ on me, and you will see a dragon sitting on the floor. It took much discipline, and more time than I care to remember wasting, but I achieved the goal, and I can keep this form indefinitely. Do you know why I chose this form?"

"Because dragons are used for many things in the wizarding world." Hermione said, suddenly understanding. "You are trying to protect yourself!"

"You've got it." Amaranth said, picking up the schematics again. "And now, I believe we are approaching the end of the line." she began putting the schematics into the folder, and Hermione started to hand her set back to Ajax.

"Keep them." Ajax said. "Don't go flaunting them around, but you can keep them and study them. I'll have some other books and things around for you to read that might help you understand them better, but I need to unpack them first."

Hermione looked like Christmas had come early and was extremely generous at the same time. "Thank you." she managed to say.

"I just ask that you keep this under wraps…I very much doubt that the wizarding world is ready to croon their spells."

The group shared a laugh at that, and Ajax began undoing the spell work laid on the door.

"I just realized why Malfoy didn't visit us yet." Ron said, watching Ajax removing the various privacy wards.

"Oh?" Harry asked. "Why not? He's never been one to pass up a chance to insult us."

"It wouldn't have anything at all to do with the Fidelus charm I placed on the compartment, would it?" Ajax asked, playing dumb.

"No, that wouldn't affect anything." Amaranth replied sarcastically. "It would just ensure that he couldn't even find us."

"You cast a fidelus?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I snuck it in with several other charms for privacy. Remember, 'It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you'." Ajax said, removing the last charm. "And we are now visible to the rest of the world again. Oh, Harry?"

"Yes?" the green-eyed teen asked.

"I'll need to meet with you, preferably alone, or at minimum, bring no one who didn't sit with you on the train. That scar of yours is…in need of investigation." Ajax said. "I think I can fix it, but I'm not going to do anything to it yet."

"What do you mean 'fix it'?" Harry asked.

"I mean that I live to fight evil, and that scar qualifies. You on the other hand, have maintained an amazing level of purity…I've never seen anything quite like it." Ajax said. "It definitely bears investigation. We'll talk later." he added hurriedly, putting shrunken objects in his pockets."

The train was still slowing down when Ajax finished his preparations to leave the train, and Ajax moved to the door so as to be ready when the train did stop.

Finally, the crimson locomotive came to a complete stop, and Ajax stepped off the train.

"Firs' years! Firs' years!" Ajax heard a voice booming. "Firs' years over here!"

Ajax joined the crowd of first year students gathering near Hagrid, a half-giant, and waited for instructions.

"You aren't firs' years!" Hagrid boomed, noticing Ajax.

"No sir!" Ajax replied. "We are not. We'll be joining Fifth year, but need to be sorted first."

"Ah, alrigh' then. Come on. No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid boomed out.

Ajax winced, and worked his finger around in his ear, then cast a volume modulation charm around his ears to make Hagrid's voice a little quieter.

"Right then." Hagrid said, settling his bulk into one of the boats. "Forward!" The boats moved off across the lake, and Ajax took the time to examine his surroundings telepathically. Everything looked incredibly different from the mental perspective, and Ajax never tired of it.

There, sitting beside him in the boat, was Amaranth, shining like a star to Ajax's mental eye. The forest glowed, and Ajax detected a great deal of malevolence within it's borders. He would need to help with that. He could still feel the faeries and the unicorns, but their signatures were nowhere close to as strong as Ajax would have expected.

"Incredible." he murmured. Then he turned his mental sight towards the castle, sweeping through the many signatures available for him to peruse.

He found a few points of light that seemed to be capable of more than the magic taught at the school, two of them had been on the train with him as they rode to Hogwarts. A third carried age in it's signature, and Ajax wondered if he had found the Headmaster. Ajax heaved a sigh as they went under the waterfall, and locked down his mind, denying access to all except Amaranth.

"Adurna." Ajax muttered, drawing on his magic. A ward flared all around him, and nothing happened.

"Wha was tha'?" Hagrid asked, from several boats over.

"I was attempting to dry myself and my clothes." Ajax called back. "I wish to present myself as something other than a sopping wet first year student." Lowering his voice and expanding his intentions to include Amaranth, Ajax said "Adurna." This time, it worked, and the water flowed out of their clothes and hair, falling gently into the lake.

"Better?" he asked.

"Much." Amaranth replied. "What's the idea with going through a waterfall, anyway?"

"Probably a rite of initiation." Ajax said. "but as I've already been baptized, in water, blood and fire, I saw no valid reason for us to be soaking wet when we made out entrance."

Amaranth agreed with him, and the two sat in contented silence, waiting for the boat ride to end.

It finally ended with the boat bumping against a sort of dock under the castle, where Ajax disembarked, then turned to help Amaranth out of the boat. Professor McGonagall came out a few moments later, and Hagrid, in a relatively quiet voice, said "The firs' years for you, ma'am."

"Thank you Hagrid." McGonagall said. "You may go."

The half giant tipped his hat and ambled off to the head table.

_Answers to Readers:_

_Master of the Blood Wolves: Malfoy can't get touched. Not yet at least. Amaranth would have punched him halfway through the train if it wasn't for her incredible restraint and the knowledge that something _will_ be done about it sometime later on._

_Mainn: Doesn't take much to please you, do it? Of course I'll keep up the good work!_

_And now to those who have placed an alert on this story, but aren't reviewing. I really would appreciate a review, even if it's something along the lines of 'Great job, keep up the good work'. I prefer hearty reviews that I can actually answer, but as it stands, I'd be cool with simply getting a review!_


	8. Chapter 8

McGonagall turned to face the students as Hagrid made his exit.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." she said. "I am Professor McGonagall. Please follow me."

They walked about for a bit, finally ending in a room adjacent to the Great Hall.

"Your house will serve as your family while you are here." She said, addressing the group. She peered out into the Hall slightly. "You will wait here until your name is called…yes Mr…?"

"Tone." Ajax supplied. "Amaranth and I will be entering the Fifth year as exchange students, I was wondering if you could sort us after the First years please?"

"I have never heard of students coming into any year other than the first year." McGonagall said. "Your names will be called last, and added to the Fifth Year rosters."

Ajax nodded sharply in acceptance. "Thank you, Professor McGonagall." he replied.

She smiled briefly, then exited the room. A few moments later, the first years heard the song of the hat, and names were called, leading to the exit of students from the room, with wishes of good luck from the others.

Finally, it was down to Ajax and Amaranth.

"We have a pair of exchange students from America." McGonagall said to the people in the Great Hall. "I know that you have all been with your year-mates for the first four terms, but I hope that you will greet your new school-mates respectfully and treat them as you would treat any other person here. Tone, Ajax!"

Ajax briskly walked into the Great Hall, back ramrod straight and his hands behind his back. He stopped in front of Professor McGonagall, and sketched a brief bow.

She handed him the hat, which Ajax regarded with a raised eyebrow. "You need to put on the hat, Mr. Tone." she said.

Ajax shrugged slightly in acceptance, and sat down on the stool, facing the students before placing the hat on his head.

_Alarms blared as purple light pulsed in the chamber. Ajax could hear a computerized voice coldly stating "Mauve Alert: Class Three mental intrusion, Mauve Alert: Class Three mental intrusion."_

_He pinched the bridge of his nose, he really didn't need a mental intrusion just as he was being sorted._

_He moved over to a control panel and began locking down bodily control, having someone else control his movements was the thing he was most worried about. Next, he locked down everything he could concerning his memories, and he was about to shut down the system entirely when the control room doors opened, admitting someone dressed from head to toe in grey robes._

"_Who are you?" Ajax demanded, pointing a device at him._

"_I am the hat of Godric Gryffindor." the wizard replied. "I am supposed to sort you."_

"_Yeah, someone could have warned me first." Ajax groused. He glanced briefly at the device he was aiming at the representation of the hat. "Not that a laser-spanner would have done much against you anyway. Computer, stand down Mauve Alert, intruder has permission." At once, the purple lights that were pulsing in time with the sirens disengaged, and the systems unlocked._

"_I must ask that you keep whatever you find here a secret." Ajax said. "Reveal so much as one detail that you find here, and I will see to it that you die in a bath of dragon-fire."_

"_I understand." replied the hat's avatar. "I'll just look around a bit, and see where you belong."_

"_House of Merlin." Ajax said. "Put me there."_

"_How do you know of that house?" the hat asked. "It's been considered dead for several decades, and whoever would have gone to that house was given the choice of whichever house they wanted, seeing as how they had qualities of all four in equal measure."_

"_In that case, I choose Gryffindor." Ajax replied. "And I might warn you, Amaranth will probably demand to be placed in the same house as me."_

"_Really? And why do you think that?" the hat asked, amused._

"_Because she is bonded with me." Ajax replied smugly._

_The hat jumped in surprise. "I have not sorted a bonded person before."_

"_I am a Dragon Rider, she is a dragon, hiding as a human by use of the animagus discipline." Ajax said. "She's up next, so you'll get to talk with her very soon." Ajax picked up a telephone receiver. "Amaranth? I'm alright, slight misunderstanding. When you put the hat on, it will initiate mental contact. If you ask him, he will keep everything he finds secret, so try not to destroy him the moment he makes contact."_

"_So, Gryffindor, you say?" the hat asked, beginning to fade away. "Very well, better be"_

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat announced to the hall.

Ajax dipped his head briefly, then handed the hat back to McGonagall before walking towards the Gryffindor table.

"Tone, Amaranth!" McGonagall said, and Amaranth swept out of the side room, carrying herself in such a way that anyone could have mistaken her for a queen. Some of the male population wolf-whistled, then quailed before her stern gaze. Ajax noticed that Ron was one of the people who had been vocal in their appreciation of Amaranth's looks. _"He'll be trouble."_ Ajax thought. Amaranth agreed.

She sat down on the stool, placed the hat on her head, and proceeded to inform the hat that she would be going to Gryffindor to protect her Rider.

"Gryffindor!" the Hat roared out. Ajax heard him mentally saying "Never sorted a dragon before…I hope not to repeat the incident."

Amaranth took off the hat and handed it back to Professor McGonagall.

Ajax had made sure that there was a seat available beside him for Amaranth, and as she sat, the people seated around the table began talking among themselves.

Ajax paid little attention to them, listening instead to the announcements made by Dumbledore

"…tryouts for the Quidditch-"

"Hem-hem." a pink-dressed witch said rudely. "Thank you, Dumbledore, for your kind welcome. I must say, it is nice to be back in Hogwarts again, and see all these smiling faces looking back at me! I'm sure we'll all be good friends…"

Ajax tuned her out, preferring to listen to her aura instead. What he found disturbed him, as sadism and bias were openly flowing out from her.

"I wonder when the honeymoon ends." Ajax muttered.

"So the Ministry is finally dabbling in the affairs of the school." Amaranth replied. "Never a good thing. We'll need to keep our heads down."

In the following weeks, Ajax and Amaranth kept their heads down as far as possible in their defense class, and weren't much more involved in potions. Harry, on the other hand, was rather vocal about some grandiose dark lord going by the name Lord Voldemort. This had earned him several excruciating detentions with the Ministry toad, and then the full and complete wrath of one Katie Bell descended on him one day at lunch.

"How DARE you get more detentions!" she shouted at Harry.

Ajax winced at the sheer volume, he had been sitting right next to Harry at the time, and carefully wormed his fingers into his ears. This done, he waited out the rant, pulling his fingers out when McGonagall approached. She took points, reprimanding Harry for getting into detention with Umbridge again, and returned to the Head Table.

"Miss Bell?" Ajax said at last.

"Yes?" the irritated team captain asked.

"Would you mind terribly if I were to try for Seeker in Mr. Potter's absence? That way, when he's available, he can play, and if he's not, we could still have a competent Seeker." Ajax said.

"Five PM." Katie said at last. "Be there."

"There?" Ajax asked. "I'm still new to the school. Where do you need me to be, and how do I get there?"

"The Quidditch pitch, of course. It's outside." Katie replied. She then moved off to deal with other affairs.

"Well, now is as good a time as any to test _Maui's Pride_." Ajax remarked, before finishing his lunch.

Defense was next, and the pink toad seemed to be getting more and more uneasy with the presence of Ajax and Amaranth in her classroom, and Ajax knew it was a matter of time before she went on the offensive. He was still building a case though, and didn't dare tip his hand.

The redoubled effort to protect himself came up in discussion when Ajax met with the rest of the team at the pitch that evening.

"Are you a yes-man for that Defense teacher we got this year?" Ron asked. "You seem to be getting more and more compliant with her."

"A defense mechanism of my own design, Mr. Weasley." Ajax replied, checking his broom. "You can't hit what's not there, and if I'm not a target, I can slip into her blind spot. I'm putting together a case against her though, never you fear. Until then, I'm very actively hiding from whatever attacks she can mount against me. I feel sorry for Mr. Potter though. I've been running scans, and she's got blood quills. I'm not running up against those if I can avoid it."

"You're here to try for Seeker, right?" Katie Bell asked, striding onto the pitch, broom in hand.

"That's right." Ajax said.

"Why two brooms?"

"Because the one is tried and true, the other one is still under testing. Besides which, it's always good to have a backup broom." Ajax replied easily. "I wonder what the silver-green observers will have to say about my broom." he added darkly.

"_Maui's Pride_?" Katie asked, seeing the engraved name on the nose.

"Surfing reference." Ajax replied. "If everything works the way I want it to, I will be surfing the skies, rather than sitting. It should provide better in-flight handling, according to the models and simulations that have been run, and if it doesn't, I've still got the F-14."

"Is that an American broom?" Katie asked, mounting her broom.

"It's my broom." Ajax replied. "I hand-built it with an emphasis on speed."

"I want to see it in action before dinner." Katie replied. "Let's see what you can do."

"Roger that." Ajax replied, grinning. "Up fifty." At his command, the broom began rising straight up, stopping at fifty feet from the ground.

"Impressive." Katie said disdainfully from beside him. "You can go straight up at a comma…what are you _doing_?" Her sudden change in thought pattern had occurred when Ajax began to stand up reaching the point where he was standing on the broom as if it were a surfboard.

"I told you." Ajax said smugly. "This is designed for surfing. Shall we start?"

Katie shook her head as if she thought he was crazy, then released the Snitch. The reserve Seeker was on his broom, facing Ajax as they waited for the signal to go after the training Snitch.

"Go!" Katie said, having decided it was far enough away.

Ajax leaned on his broom, and it dipped down and to the left while picking up speed. As anticipated, the broom could change directions on a dime, and Ajax carefully put the other Seeker to shame, trying hard not to destroy the broom with lateral force.

On the ground, the Slytherin observers had been jeering at Ajax's behavior on the broom until he went into action. Now, they simply looked worried, and Ajax's raptor vision picked up on the approach of their newest captain, Draco Malfoy.

"There's the Slytherin Seeker." Katie said, when Ajax brought the Snitch back to her. "Draco Malfoy, Slytherin Seeker, blond ponce, and overall pain in the arse."

"He looks worried." Ajax replied.

"How can you tell?" Katie asked.

"Raptor vision. Long story, and not one you'll hear just yet. Suffice to say, I'm as at home up here as I am on the ground." Ajax answered. "Do you need to see the other one in action now?"

"If it's as good as this one, I'd say you've got yourself a fortune in broom-making." Katie replied. "Let's see it."

"Come to me, Tomcat!" Ajax called, reaching towards the broom on the ground. It flew up at his command, gently nosing into his hand a few seconds later.

"How-?" Katie managed.

"Merlin's journals were rather informative." Ajax replied.

"You're joking!" Katie exclaimed. "You have Merlin's journals?"

"Try very hard not to fall off your broom, Miss Bell." Ajax said. "Yes, I have his journals. Nine of them, in fact."

Katie blinked rapidly for several moments. "I'll think about that later, let's see how your Tomcat works."

"It works well." Ajax replied. He took off his outer most robe, and tied it to the _Pride_ before boarding the other broom. He then carefully brought it around so that he was in the same position as before.

"Hold on to my broom for me?" Ajax asked. "Managing this one is a full-time job."

Katie accepted the other broom, then released the Snitch. Five seconds later, the other Seeker went after it, and Ajax spread his wings before laying down on the broom handle. He shot past the other Seeker and had the Snitch before the sixth-year student knew what had happened, then inverted and pulled back on the broom, heading back towards where Katie Bell was sitting on her broom.

"Satisfied with my performance in the air?" Ajax asked.

"I…I don't know what to say." the captain replied, proffering the broom.

"You're hired might be a good pair of words to use on me." Ajax drawled.

"You're hired then." Katie replied. "And if anything happens that takes you out of play, I _will_ flay you with my bare hands."

"That's nothing." Ajax replied, descending. "Amaranth could gut me with two swipes of her tongue."

"Where're you going?" Katie called after him.

"Dinner." Ajax replied. "Don't worry, I can easily fulfill my role in the game. Besides, I need to review the written rules…wouldn't want to commit fouls would I?"

Ajax touched down gently and put his outer robe on again before picking up the Tomcat and walking back towards the castle.

"_Accio_ brooms!" Draco called out, wand in hand. Ajax's brooms fell out of his grip before flying towards Draco, who caught them with ease. "I think I'll keep these, Tone." he said mockingly. "Wouldn't want the Gryffindors winning the Cup due to your skills now, would we?"

Ajax noticed the Ministry toad approaching, and decided to see if she would reprimand Draco for theft.

"With all due respect, Malfoy," Ajax said calmly, his voice free of sarcasm. "I would like to have my property returned to me at once. I spent a great deal of time on them, and loosing them to theft isn't my idea of a good way to stop using them."

"Get used to it." Malfoy said. "Slytherin wins the Cup, not Gryffindor."

At this point, Umbridge was within earshot. "I could care less about the Cup, Malfoy. I do want my property back, now." Ajax's tone was firmly polite, with an edge of steel, and Umbridge walked over.

"My, my. What's happening here?" she asked.

"I finished with my part of the Quidditch practice." Ajax said. "and I was returning to the castle when my brooms were summoned from me with the use of Accio. I was politely informing Mr. Malfoy here that I wanted my brooms back. So far, I have been rebuffed."

"I see." Umbridge replied, a delighted expression on her face. "I have noticed your performance in my class. You do an excellent job of seeming to agree with the Ministry and it's chosen representative to Hogwarts, but I doubt you really mean it. Let's do a quick test. Mr. Malfoy, is it true what he said, that you took his brooms from him? Tell the truth, and you won't be punished."

A look of glee crossed Draco's face. "Yes. He spoke the truth."

"Very good. Let's see…for an adequate reward for telling the truth, you may keep his brooms." Umbridge said sweetly.

"Thank you, Madame Umbridge." Draco said, bowing slightly.

Ajax saw red. _"Jierda!"_ he cried, palm out towards the Whomping Willow. A palpable wave of magic flowed from his hand, breaking several branches of the tree.

"Detention, Mr. Tone." Umbridge said sweetly, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Ajax whirled around, his vision flickering dangerously, and his face scribed with fury. Somewhere deep within, however, he realized that it would only make things worse, and decided to shut down.

Umbridge was just waiting for another excuse to give him detention when Ajax's eyes rolled up in his head, and he collapsed to the ground, out cold. For a theatrical touch, Ajax had a few illusory wisps of dark vapor exit his nose before dissipating on the wind.

"**WHO DARES ATTACK THE PARTNER OF MY SOUL!"** Amaranth bellowed, jumping from the Gryffindor tower.

Umbridge and Draco looked on, eagerly awaiting her landing, but they were disappointed when she landed softly before seeming to fly over the ground towards Ajax, feet barely touching the ground.

"When I find who did this to him, I'll tear their heart out with my teeth!" Amaranth swore, picking up Ajax's limp body. She did a double take when she saw the brooms Draco held. "Those are not your brooms." she said. She smirked before saying "Engage Tau Ceti protocol four." The brooms disappeared from Draco's grasp, and she walked towards the castle with her Rider slung over her shoulder.

Ajax was quite rudely brought out of his self-induced lapse of consciousness by Madame Pomfrey casting the ennervate on him.

"I see someone decided to move me." Ajax stated, his voice carrying no emotional inflection whatsoever. "What happened after I put myself in a time-out?"

"I jumped from the Gryffindor tower to find out what had happened. I got a massive wave of anger across the link, and then your mind completely shut down. Do not do that to me again."

"I apologize." Ajax replied contritely. "I was exceedingly angry, and I broke a few branches off that wild willow tree, you know, the one with the dangerously waving branches? Miss Ministry gave me detention for it. If you'll pardon me, I have places to be. Miss Bell said she'll flay me with her bare hands if anything happens to take me out of play." So saying, Ajax got off the bed and exited the infirmary, running into Headmaster Dumbledore, Madame Umbridge, Deputy McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey.

"Ah, just the person I wished to see." Ajax said, reversing direction.

"Which one of us?" Dumbledore asked, eyes twinkling.

Ajax sat down on the bed again, and the four adults arranged themselves around the bed. One looked gleeful, two were inquisitive, and the fourth was running diagnostic spells over Ajax's torso.

"You specifically, sir." Ajax replied. "My brooms were taken from me by Draco Malfoy. I politely asked for their return, he refused. I did not threaten violence of any kind, but merely repeated the request. Madame Umbridge arrived, accused me of not supporting the local magical government, which is not my own, by the way, and gave them to Draco. My rage at this obscene breach of justice and decency overcame certain higher functions, and I vented some of my anger at the willow tree. I broke several branches of said tree with the force of my magic, and was promptly assigned a detention. At this, my fury reached even higher levels, and I activated a fail-safe that rendered me unconscious. I suspect Madame Umbridge wished for me to attack her or Draco, or take my brooms back by force, and I really hope she was disappointed."

"Shall we start adding to your detention, Mr. Tone?" Umbridge asked sweetly.

"Why?" Ajax asked, smiling. "I've done nothing wrong that I haven't already been charged with."

"Wishing a teacher was disappointed?" Umbridge asked. "What about that?"

"Hypothetical." Ajax replied. "I inferred that you wanted me to express my anger towards you. Therefore, by not doing so, I would have disappointed you."

Umbridge's beady eyes became even smaller as she squinted at Ajax.

Ajax continued, unperturbed. "As I understand justice and decency, Madame Umbridge, you have no case against me. You started with favoring Draco Malfoy rather than me, or if you wish to have it disassociated, you favored the robber over the robbed. You continued by officially taking my brooms from me and giving them to Draco, and then punished me for my temporary loss of my senses in the face of this breach of justice. Now, you are threatening to add to my already unjust punishment because I am telling the story from my point of view, accurate to the best of my abilities. Who's in the wrong here?"

Amaranth said something over the link, and Ajax smiled to her before turning his attention back to the persons in authority.

"Amaranth has informed me that she invoked the Tau Ceti protocol four as relates to stolen possessions, so my brooms are back in my possession. Headmaster Dumbledore, as you are the person at the top of the authority chain in this school, I would like for my detention to be commuted if I can repair the damage done to the willow tree that received my uncalled-for attack. I'll not protest whatever decision you make, knowing that you will act with fairness as pertains to this case."

"I will deliberate the case, and give you my decision after dinner, my boy." Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling.

Ajax nodded sharply. "I understand. Now, Madame Pomfrey, am I cleared for normal operations again?"

"I can find nothing wrong, but I have some things that I'd like to talk to you about." the Mediwitch replied.

"May I return after dinner to speak to those things?" Ajax asked. "I am hungry and wish to eat with the rest of my House if I may."

"Very well, come back right after dinner then." Pmfrey said, relenting.

"Thank you." Ajax replied. He stood up from the bed. "Ladies, gentlemen." he then walked out, followed by Amaranth.

_So, the hag makes her first strike! Drop a review, I enjoy reading them and then answering them here, so, with no further ado, Answers to Readers!_

_Master of the Blood Wolves: Not filler, backstory! Now that I've gotten that sorted, is there anything you'd like to say to this one?_


	9. Chapter 9

At dinner, Katie sat beside Ajax, on his left so as to be able to converse easily with him.

"What happened earlier?" she asked.

"Draco stole my brooms, 'fessed up to Umbridge, who gave them to him as a reward for his honesty, and then gave me detention when I attacked the willow tree in my anger at the miscarriage of justice. That went just a bit too far and I activated a failsafe to keep me from killing her. I knocked myself out. Amaranth jumped from the tower, invoked the Tau Ceti protocol four as pertains to stolen goods and brought me to the infirmary. I had forgotten to tell her about my little failsafe mechanism, so she was really worried. I presented the case, in full, accurate to the best of my abilities, and requested a commutation of my sentence if I can repair the damage done to the tree by my attack. I'll get his answer after dinner, and I need to talk with Madame Pomfrey after Dumbledore's done…she found something in her scans that she wants to investigate."

"So are you out again? Because if so…" Katie trailed off warningly.

"Back off, Bell." Amaranth warned. "He's mine, and if you do anything to him, you'll regret it."

"Is that a threat?" Katie asked lightly.

"It's a promise." Amaranth said seriously. "Don't fuck around with dragons."

"Does she think she's a dragon?" Katie asked quietly.

Ajax tensed ever so slightly before relaxing again. "She's a dragon animagus." he said. "the draconic instincts are rather strong in her mind, and she has difficulty maintaining human behavior." he said smoothly. It wasn't a lie, as she was a dragon and had the animagus skill.

"Professor McGonagall is an animagus. Maybe she could help your girlfriend with that problem." Katie replied.

"What's her form?" Ajax asked.

"She's a cat." Katie replied. "Why?"

"Just curious. So, if I dangled catnip in front of her, waving it back and forth in front of her nose, it wouldn't affect her?" Ajax asked.

"Uh, she'd probably give you detention from here until next year if you tried that." Katie replied.

"I have no intention of trying it." Ajax replied. "I'll bring it up when I talk with her next. Pass the salt?"

The salt was passed, and Katie went into a tangent about Seeker strategies, which Ajax noted and logged for later analysis.

After the meal was over, Ajax followed Dumbledore out of the hall.

"I have decided to lessen your sentence." Dumbledore said, stopping in front of the gargoyle.

Ajax raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"You will serve a week of detentions with me." the Headmaster replied, eyes twinkling merrily.

"And the conditions of such include…what?" Ajax quested.

"Well, you will repair the tree, but you will be allowed to play Quidditch. I know how the captains are, and I wouldn't want you to be in danger from your team captain." Dumbledore said genially. "Go see Madame Pomfrey, I know she needed to speak with you, then come to my office. The password is lemon sherbet."

The gargoyle sprang to the side, revealing the staircase.

"Madame Pomfrey?" Ajax asked, tapping his fist against the doorframe.

"I was wondering if you would voluntarily return." Madame Pomfrey replied, exiting her office.

"My word is good." Ajax replied, finding a chair. "What did you want to speak about?"

"Do you have a creature inheritance?" she asked bluntly.

Ajax raised an eyebrow. "Do you refer to animalistic traits on my person?"

"Yes."

"You could say that it's an inheritance of sorts…what do you know of genetics?"

"Genetics? I've never heard the word before." Pomfrey replied, confused.

"Genetics is the study of the roadmaps for the body. These maps are called DNA, by the Muggles, anyway. A group of rather sadistic Muggles thought it might be a good idea to add in a few maps taken from whichever species of bird it was they chose. The ratio I've got is two avian maps to every ninety-eight human maps, and it's resulted in a few…differences from the normal human. Anything else you wanted to delve into?"

"According to my scans, you were a Squib. Can you do a Lumos spell for me?"

Ajax heaved a sigh, but complied, lighting up the room with the bright glow from his wand. _"Nox._ Satisfied?"

"No, you shouldn't have been able create that much light." Pomfrey replied, puzzled.

"Don't reveal this, I'm not ready for the backlash it could create." Ajax said, tugging off his glove. "This is why. My becoming a Dragon Rider appears to have strengthened my previously weak magic. Up til now, I didn't even know about it."

"And how powerful would you say you are?"

"I can pull off about twenty Aveda spells without tiring, if necessary." Ajax replied.

"That's an Unforgivable spell." Madame Pomfrey noted.

"Known as such in the United States, yes. Punishable by law…under certain circumstances, but can be used whenever someone feels like it." Ajax explained. "I haven't used it here, but I make Muggle style ammunition with it, for use in extreme situations. That way, I can use a hundred spells and not worry about magical exhaustion."

"You make Muggle ammunition out of the Killing Curse!" Madame Pomfrey asked, shocked.

"Yeah, using the incantation 'dectus'." Ajax replied. "No problem."

"But that's an Unforgivable, punishable with time in Azkaban!" Pomfrey exploded.

"Here, yeah." Ajax replied. "I live on Atlantis. Most of the time, anyway. Besides, I haven't used it since I came here. The Ministry can't pin anything on me, as I haven't done anything illegal here. If that's all, I have a detention with the Headmaster." So saying, Ajax hopped up from the chair, and left the infirmary.

"Lemon Sherbet." Ajax announced to the gargoyle, barely slowing down. It sprang aside, and Ajax continued up the stairs.

Just as he was knocking on the door, Ajax batted aside a mental probe. Opening the door, he stalked in, attempting to look as if he hadn't noticed the probe.

"Fifth year Gryffindor Ajax, reporting for detention, SIR!" Ajax said stiffly, standing to one side of the door.

"Sit down, my boy." Dumbledore replied, feeling slightly off-balance. "Lemon drop?" he indicated the bowl on the desk.

"I was under the impression that I was here for detention, sir," Ajax replied, maintaining his stiff posture, though seated. "Not to eat candies."

Dumbledore's eyebrows went up. "What are you playing at, Mr. Tone?" he asked gently.

"Sir?" Ajax replied. After an expectant pause, Ajax decided to speak. "I'm not playing at anything, sir. I have adopted a formal military stance in my body language and speech patterns so as to foil whatever plot you've hidden deep below the surface, sir."

The headmaster pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why do you think you would be the target of a plot, my boy?"

"Because I have commonly been relegated to the role of a pawn, sir." Ajax lied. "I have grown weary of such actions towards my person, and have engaged countermeasures to prevent the same from continuing to occur, sir."

"I see." Dumbledore replied. "I could help you with that."

Ajax carefully lifted an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yes." the headmaster replied. "Like this: _Legillimens!_"

This time, Ajax was unable to block the invasion, and decided to change his mindscape before locking Dumbledore inside.

"_Space. The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship…Enterprise, her continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, To boldly go where no man has gone before, this time to Stardate 440002.3 for the assimilation of Dumbledore." With that, the voice stopped, and the rather oddly-shaped thing hanging in the black fired something. The pods on the rear flashed blue for a moment, the ship seemed to stretch slightly, then the entire thing flew forward at an incredible speed._

_The thing started to make repeated flybys of Dumbledore's head, as a theme played in the background, done by a nice, classical orchestra._

_Names in crisp, blue lettering were also appearing and disappearing, though he couldn't make out what they meant. He chose to ignore them for the time being, a little more focused on what the voice meant about 'assimilation' Once more, he found himself looking at what he assumed was the rear of the thing as the blue pods seemed to brighten before finally flashing and it disappeared with a final diamond-shaped flash of light far in the distance._

_The scene shifted, and the headmaster found himself standing in the ship, watching as people in strange clothes moved about with frantic urgency._

"_Sir!" someone towards the back of the room announced. "The Borg are hailing us."_

"_Onscreen." replied a balding man, seated directly in front of the previous speaker._

_The viewer pinged, and the everyone in the room heard the Borg begin to speak._

"_We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service Us. Resistance Is Futile." The chilling pronouncement was followed by a brief screech of feedback as the channel closed._

_If the mood was frantic earlier, it was now ordered panic in the room, and even the balding man seated in the center of the room had a hard time staying calm. However, he began issuing orders with a calm urgency, orders that were swiftly carried out. The ship rocked under heavy fire from the enemy vessel, forcing the shields to drop, and then a Borg drone appeared out of nowhere, pausing briefly to battle a bearded man who still had a head of hair, then grabbed the balding one and vanished again._

"_They must have some for of appiration." the headmaster mused. "I'll need to look into it."_

_Surprisingly, the Borg ship broke off it's attack after disabling the Enterprise, beginning it's run towards Earth._

_Several hours of hard work later, with ill-used muscles screaming their protest at the Headmaster, the Enterprise had managed to catch up to the Borg vessel._

_Once again, the Cube hailed the Federation vessel, this time with video to accompany the audio._

"_I am…Locutus…of Borg." the balding man said on the screen. He had been changed, sporting a great deal of odd things the headmaster couldn't understand. The first officer, who had briefly fought with the Borg Drone, looked positively furious, in a cold way._

_Onscreen, Locutus continued. "Resistance…is futile. Your life, as it has been, is over." It was a dispassionate statement, almost as if the man was discussing the weather. Others on the bridge appeared to be devastated._

"_From this time forward…you will service…Us. You will be assimilated. Resistance…is futile."_

_The channel closed with the same slight squeal of feedback there had been with the previous hail, and the image disappeared, replaced with the external view of the Borg vessel hanging in the black, still running for Earth._

"_We're getting him back." the first officer growled out._

"_Indeed you shall." came a familiar voice. Dumbledore found the source of the voice, casually strolling out of a closet, wearing clothing similar to what the others were wearing._

"_Who are you?" the first officer asked._

"_Specialist Tone." came the reply. "Am I to assume you are THE William T. Riker, current commander of this vessel?"_

"_That's right." Riker replied. "Why are you here?"_

"_To insure the return of your captain, since you seem to be near hell-bent on getting him back." Tone replied easily. "Besides, the man knows a good wine, and I'd hate to loose his expertise on such matters."_

"_Our captain has been stolen from us and all you care about is wine?" Demanded an officer in the back._

"_No, Worf, that's not _all_ I care about. I'm also interested in women and song." Tone replied, grinning. "That, and giving the Borg an intergalactic form of 'fuck you'. I want that ship gone from existence, relatively now, and I don't care what needs to be done to achieve that. A word of advice, one that I'm hoping is redundant, don't use any of your typical tactics. Use nothing Picard would have been familiar with, because the Borg know what he knows. An away team could do enough damage to force them to stop, given what I know about the Borg."_

"_What do you know of the Borg?" Riker demanded._

"_Enough." Tone replied. "If I might lead the team? Your place, at present, is here on the bridge."_

"_Fine." Riker growled. "Get him back if you can."_

"_Roger that." Tone replied. "Worf, I need your honorable warrior instinct for this, and I think I'll take Ensign Straton and Ensign Dumbledore with me as well."_

"_What?" the headmaster protested. "You can't do that!"_

"_Can and will. Unless you'd care to show me a legitimate set of orders that say you out rank me or even Mr. Worf." Tone replied. "Let's move, people."_

_Tone, Dumbledore and Worf entered the room Dumbledore had considered to be a closet, and Tone said "Deck Ten." The room began moving, and Dumbledore realized it was a lift._

_The three were armed with phase rifles, and met a forth on the transporter pad._

"_Go ahead, Mr. O'Brian." Tone said, standing ready._

_A moment later, Dumbledore was on the Cube, and the group began shooting at things in the ceiling. Worf managed to grab Picard, and Ensign Straton was hit by a Borg weapon._

"_It's not enough!" Tone said, "Keep firing!"_

_The Borg assimilated Dumbledore just as Ajax beamed off of the Cube, and the last thing he heard while still in Ajax's mind was "Beware. This time I went easy on you. Next time, I may not play so nicely. Beware."_

Dumbledore jerked as the influence of the Borg hive mind was quickly removed, and he seemed to once again be in possession of all his original limbs. Still, things seemed to be a bit odd, his senses were fuzzy, and he had a hard time thinking straight.

"Well, my boy." Dumbledore said brightly, trying to ignore the mental warfare he had recently engaged in. "I'll be having you do filing for a week so as to keep my office looking clean and tidy. You won't be permitted to use magic to fulfill the task."

"Okay." Ajax replied easily. "I'll file first by stardate, then alphabetically."

When Albus didn't say anything, Ajax looked up to see that the Headmaster had seemingly gone catatonic. "Maybe I'll call the nurse, too." he added.

An hour later, Ajax left the Headmaster's office, whistling brightly. He was holding onto a note from the Headmaster, excusing his presence outside of the Gryffindor Tower beyond curfew.

Hermione and Ron ran into him as he turned to enter the last hallway between him and the Tower.

"You aren't supposed to be outside the tower past curfew." Hermione said. "Where have you been?"

"In the Headmaster's office." Ajax replied. "I was there for detention. I have here an authentic excuse note."

Hermione took the proffered note, checked the signature, then handed it back. "You can go." she said. "Still, it's better that we caught you rather than say, Professor Snape or Professor Umbridge."

"Well, I guess I'll get in there, eh?" Ajax asked. "See you at breakfast."

_A/N: So, another chapter done. Just another day in the life, people. Review!_

_Master of the Blood Wolves: She started deferring all punishment to her a bit later. Ajax is still safe…for now. I'll consider your request as pertains to Amaranth's mind, but at the moment, I'm not ready to do that._


	10. Chapter 10

Ajax had noticed Snape's dislike of the Gryffindors, and kept his head down, doing his best to answer each question leveled at him with accurate, concise answers. He did his potions exactly as instructed, bottling them in unbreakable beakers so that Snape couldn't accidentally drop and break them, resulting in a zero.

Madame Umbridge was even more unpleasant than Snape, and Ajax again kept his head even farther down after the broom incident, doing his best to not be noticed when he didn't have to be.

The other teachers, however, Ajax found to be fair, if rather strict, as was the case with Professor McGonagall, and participated with enthusiasm and gusto in their classes.

It was Thursday night, and Amaranth had been the one to point out that the converter was the part that was leaking energy in ways it shouldn't. The repair had been made, and they were testing it by levitating just about everything in the common room.

Hermione hadn't protested much, as what homework had been assigned was relatively light, and she was curious to see how well the magical guitar worked.

Amaranth and Ajax had been belting out the chorus when Harry entered the room, coming back from what he had claimed was 'remedial potions'.

He clutched his head in pain, and backed out.

A minute and a half later, the song ended, and Ajax slid the guitar into a pocket dimension for safekeeping.

"Quiet down, everybody." Ajax said. "I noticed Harry come in, clutch his head in pain and back out. I'll go tell him it's all clear."

So saying, Ajax opened the door and peered out. "Harry?" he called quietly. "I assume you were waiting for Amaranth and I to quit making such a racket?"

"Yes." came the whispered reply.

Ajax exited the portrait hole, and leaned against the wall as the Fat Lady swung closed.

"You weren't doing remedial potions." Ajax accused quietly. "Potions doesn't shove a railroad spike through your head, I know because I've watched. Not to mention, if you were actually being tutored in potions, your skill would actually improve. I know you aren't as dull as you try to make people think that you are. Care to let me help?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but Snape has been trying to teach Occlumency to me." Harry replied.

"I'm not sure what that is…does it have to do with the mind by any chance?"

"Yes, the defense of the mind, theoretically." Harry replied. "I haven't been doing well."

"Just so you know, Harry, unless it's super private, it is my business what's happening to you, as well as any other person behind that portrait. McGonagall said something about a House being a person's family, and family stick together. I'm good at defending my mind, as well as reading others, may I try to help you?" Ajax said gently.

"Sure." Harry replied. "Can you do it without having it hurt?"

"I think so." Ajax replied. "It shouldn't hurt when I'm in your mind. Come on, this isn't the place to deal with this." Ajax turned to the Fat Lady and gave the password, and she swung open with an obliging click.

Once inside the red and gold themed room, Ajax found a deep chair and set it so it was facing towards a sofa.

"Sit down and get comfortable." Ajax said. "It will help."

Harry complied, sitting down with a weary sigh on the sofa.

"I have two requests to make." Ajax said, sitting in the chair. "The first is, may I cast a spell on you? That headache you've got is a bit distracting."

"It is?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I can feel the energy of it coming off of you. May I use a spell on you to alleviate it?" Ajax asked, slightly impatient.

"Sure." Harry replied.

"_Heill."_ Ajax muttered, and the headache began receding.

"Thanks." Harry said, looking up. "How'd you do that, anyway?"

Ajax grinned slightly. "That, my friend, is something I'm not ready to share yet. I may share it one day, but not yet. Now for the second request. May I enter your mind?"

"Why?" Harry asked. "I thought you were just going to try and get in while I hold you out."

"That might come, at a later time, but I'd like to see for myself what sort of damage Snape has done to you." Ajax replied. "I need to help you learn, not just throw you in and hope you swim. So, do I have your permission, or not? I will not be able to proceed without your permission."

"Why not?" Harry asked sullenly. "Snape can get in easily enough without my permission."

"I need your permission because, unless the situation is life-or-death, entering the mind of another without permission is equivalent to rape. I don't do rape."

Harry nodded as he thought about it. "Fine." he said. "But if I ask you to leave-"

"I'll pull out as fast as I can." Ajax promised. "Sit back, relax. Close your eyes if you want."

"You don't need eye contact?" Hermione asked.

Ajax lifted three inches out of his chair in shock. "How'd you sneak up on me?"

"We didn't mate." Ron said. "You were so busy in your conversation that we were able to bring a chair over and sit down without you noticing."

"Oh." Ajax replied. "No, I don't need eye contact. I was taught a bit differently than that."

Harry sat back and got comfortable before saying, "whenever you're ready."

_Ajax found himself in a massive warehouse, the whole building in massive disarray. "Harry?" he called. "Anybody?"_

"_Who are you?" Ajax heard behind him._

_Ajax spun around, and found himself facing a young child. "My name is Ajax. Who are you?"_

"_I'm called Boy." the waif replied. "Are you going to hit me?"_

"_No…why would I?" Ajax asked, puzzled._

"_Because I asked a question." the child replied miserably. "I'm not allowed to ask questions."_

"_Questions are good!" Ajax said. "Questions mean you are thinking! Why are you here?"_

"_This is where I always am." the waif replied._

"_And the mess?" Ajax probed._

_The child flinched. "Please don't hit me!" he wailed._

"_I won't hit you." Ajax replied. He felt his anger beginning to well up inside. "Who hits you?"_

"_Uncle Vernon, or sometimes Dudley. Aunt Petunia hits me too, but not as hard."_

"_I see." Ajax replied icily. "They will be dealt with appropriately." he straightened up then, hearing footsteps. "Someone there?" he called out._

"_There you are." Harry said, appearing in a doorway. "I was beginning to wonder where you were."_

"_Amaranth helped me, sort of like an anchor point. That's why your mind looks like this. What can you tell me about this child here? He says his name is Boy."_

_Harry looked like he'd been struck. "That's me." he said almost silently._

"_Well, fuck." Ajax said. "You have split personalities. That must be resolved first. Can we take a tour?"_

"_Sure." Harry replied._

_Ajax picked his way through the jumbled boxes on the floor with Boy in his arms, and made it safely to the door._

"_Why did you bring him with you?" Harry asked quizzically._

"_Because he needs to re-integrate with you." Ajax replied. "That will help with your mental protections."_

_They finally found a control room, with a pulsing ball in the center of the room._

"_Wow." Ajax said. "If I'm right, and I think I am, that's your magic. Why are there chains and bands on it? Does that tie it down somehow?"_

"_I…I don't know." Harry replied._

"_By the way." Ajax said, nonchalant. "Do you feel any physical pain? Believe me, if I were causing pain, you'd know."_

"_No, there's no pain." Harry said in wonder._

"_That's because your defenses were so minimal that I brushed them aside as if it were nothing more than a spider web, and you're not trying to bring them back up again. I'm guessing that's what happens with Snape." Ajax replied. "Your defenses are weak as water, your memories…well, you saw the warehouse I was in. You'll need to spend time sorting them. Basically, you're putting tags on your memories so that your mind knows how to use them. For instance, if I were to say 'Hermione' you would instantly think of her. All your memories, associated emotions, everything you have 'on file' so to speak, would be called up by your mind. I recommend sorting everything chronologically, then tagging everything. So, first year, there's your chronological sorting, at the opening feast, talking with Ron. Now you're thinking about what was on the table, and there's tags for all that stuff, chicken, pumpkin juice, everything. It should get to the point where you have near-perfect recall."_

_Ajax set down the waif that had identified himself as Boy. "I'm really not sure how to help with the multiple personalities. Try going to each other."_

_Harry and Boy walked towards each other, stopping when they touched, and then with a sizzle and a shockwave that sent Ajax across the control room, Boy had re-integrated with Harry._

"_Okay, there's that." Ajax said, picking himself up. "Ow, by the way."_

"_Sorry." Harry replied._

"_It's alright. I know the risks of being in here." Ajax said, examining a chain. "Say, this has Dumbledore's signature all over it!"_

_Then Ajax spotted it, a blackish green tendril connected to the ball of magic sitting on the floor. "What's this?" he asked. "It doesn't look good in any way…"_

"_I don't know." Harry said, looking at the tendril._

"_It smells." Ajax replied. "Mind if I kill it?"_

"_Go ahead." Harry said, remembering what Ajax had said on the train._

_Ajax withdrew a silver dagger from a sheath at his belt, and carefully cut the tendril out of Harry's magical core. As soon as that was done, Ajax found what seemed to be a head or a brain center on the worm, and he plunged the dagger straight through it. An un-earthly wail emanated from the thing, growing quieter and quieter until it made no noise at all. Suddenly, the tendril turned to dust in Ajax's hand._

_Ajax looked around the control room, which resembled a warship bridge, and found the radar screen._

"_You mind if I turn this thing on?" Ajax asked, pointing at it._

"_What is it?" Harry asked, walking over to look at the screen._

"_Some form of PSIDAR is my best guess." Ajax replied. "It's definitely yours, not related to that evil thing I killed."_

"_Go ahead." Harry said warily._

_Ajax flicked the switch, and began reading the results. "Hermione is still here, she's really concerned. Ron is gone, probably as a result of the detaching and killing of that tendril. That must have had an effect in the real world as well."_

_Ajax moved over to another console, this one active with information flickering across it. "Hey, your famous scar is bleeding. Do you want me to call it a day?"_

"_No, you probably killed Voldemort's horcrux that was lodged in me." Harry said._

_Ajax blanched. "You had. A. Horcrux. In. Your fucking forehead this whole time!"_

"_Yeah…"_

"_And nobody thought to do anything about it?" Ajax ranted. "What the hell?"_

"_It's not like it was doing anything to me." Harry protested weakly._

"_Not doing anything, my furry ass." Ajax grumbled. "It was leaching your magic. Speaking of your magic, I recognize these chains, or at least, their design."_

"_Really?" Harry asked excitedly._

"_Yes." Ajax replied. "Got a sword or a power saw or something around here?"_

"_No." Harry replied. "Why?"_

"_These chains are designed to suppress your magic." Ajax said. "You've got a heck of a lot of power at your beck and call, so I recommend only breaking one for now, and leaving the rest on. You're used to the power you're able to use now, so if these chains all get broken, you'd transfigure a matchstick into an executive desk or something big like that without trying or wanting to."_

"_So, which one to break?" Harry asked._

"_That one." Ajax said, pointing to the largest one of the bunch. "You hit the biggest one first, so that as you progress, it's less and less of a power boost that you have to compensate for."_

_The radar screen pinged, and Ajax went back over to it. "Ron's back, worried as hell, and he's got McGonagall and Dumbledore with him. I'm leaving."_

Ajax returned to his own body, and listened to Hermione and Ron explaining what had gone on. He cracked an eyelid open, just enough to see that Harry's scar had not bled very much, just a slight trickle that had already healed.

"There was this really weird screaming, then a greenish black vapor seemed to come out of his forehead before dissipating." Hermione said. "Then it bled regularly a little before stopping."

"That would be my doing." Ajax said, opening his eyes. He quickly cast a privacy ward that raised McGonagall's eyebrows, then said "I was working on a project that was making a fair bit of noise, and Harry here came in, clutched his head and went back outside. I stopped the noise as soon as I could, then went to find the reason for Harry clutching his head in pain. As it turns out, Snape was teaching him Occlumency. Rather poorly, I might add." Ajax said, scowling. "Occlumency is one art that you can't just throw a student into and hope they swim. Snape was doing that, and it was damaging Harry's already incredibly weak defenses. I asked if I could help him, he agreed, and once I got inside, I found that there was more trouble than simply having Snape battering at shields that have never gotten to par to begin with."

"Maybe this conversation is best had in my office." Dumbledore suggested, eyes twinkling. A probe entered Ajax's head, and was viciously attacked. Dumbledore winced, but backed off.

"I've no problem with that." Ajax said.

"Why did you offer to help young mister Potter, mister Tone?" McGonagall asked briskly.

"Because." Ajax said simply. "You said that a house was like a second family, and the logical extension of that is that if someone is in trouble, as Harry was, that someone else comes to their aid. I was just following your words, Professor."

"I see." McGonagall said, proud of her surrogate lion. "Ten points to Gryffindor for following the instructions of a teacher, even if they weren't explicit orders. What was the greenish-black vapor, Mr. Tone? You alluded to having responsibility for it's appearance."

"I did." Ajax replied. "It was a horcrux, belonging to one Tom Marvelo Riddle. I believe he is now known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and would like the record to reflect that if I ever meet the rat-bastard face-to-face, I will name him, then proceed to utterly destroy him." Ajax's cold fury was felt by all within the privacy charm, and McGonagall shivered in fear. "Five point from Gryffindor for inappropriate language, Mr. tone." She said sternly.

"I understand." Ajax said.

"Two hundred points to Gryffindor for the destruction of a Horcrux without the destruction of it's vessel." Dumbledore said serenely, eyes twinkling merrily. Ajax blocked another probe.

"As I believe I said, this conversation would be much better in my office?" Dumbledore suggested again.

The group agreed, and Ajax followed the group to the Headmaster's office.

Once they arrived there, Dumbledore obliviated the entire group, before proceeding to spin a quick tale that was nothing like the truth.

Ajax resolved to tell Harry about the obliviation, as well as Professor McGonagall and Hermione, but was unsure if he should do the same for Ron.

He would think on it.

When they got up to the Gryffindor tower, Ajax pulled Harry aside. "Dumbledore just obliviated us in his office."

"Prove it." Harry said, angered.

"May I access your mind? I promise I will not cause you pain." Ajax said reassuringly.

"Sure, but if it hurts, I'll hex you into next week." Harry replied.

"Harry!" Hermione said, scandalized.

They sat down in their former positions, and Ajax quietly accessed Harry's mind, using Amaranth as the anchor that organized Harry's mind enough for Ajax to be able to understand it.

Ajax found the obliviated memory, hidden away with several others.

Carefully using the Ancient Language, Ajax was able to unseal the memories and hand them to Harry, who had been angrily standing over him in the mental warehouse.

After several moments, the anger shifted. "That goat-fucker!" Harry exclaimed out loud. "He knew! He knew all along about the Dursleys, and deliberately left me to rot there!"

"I know a thing or two about law." Ajax said quietly. "If you'd like, I can help build a case against Dumbledore and Snape and the Dursleys."

"Please." Harry said eagerly. "I don't think I trust Dumbledore any more."

"Think?" Ajax asked. "He just obliviated you. He's been obliviating you multiple times over the years. This is no isolated case, and there's no good reason that he could have for making us forget about what happened tonight. It's almost like he's trying to set you up to fail." Ajax trailed off, deep in thought. After a moment, he snapped out of his trance-like state, and conjured a piece of parchment and some ink. After a moment, he conjured another several pieces.

"First thing we need to do is ascertain your assets." Ajax said. "The Marauders were a tight group until Wormtail gave them up to Mr. Mustn't be Named."

"If what your saying is true, and I'm not sure I believe you yet, then we need to find out what else has been done to him." Hermione said slowly, thinking.

"I could prove it if you like." Ajax said. "With your permission, I could enter your mind and find the obliviated memory so you can access it. My telepathy doesn't hurt unless someone is very actively fighting me, and then it hurts me just as much, sometimes more."

"Fine." Hermione said. "But if you pull anything over on me, I'll…"

She left the threat unfinished, and Ajax gulped. "I understand." he said delicately.

As with Harry, Amaranth used her superior mental skills to anchor Ajax and provide an intelligible mindscape for Ajax to interpret.

"_What in the world?" Hermione asked._

"_This would appear to be your mind." Ajax said. "Part of it, anyway."_

_They were looking at a massive library, with several books strewn around, some were even on the floor, sitting open, disorganized._

"_This is my mind?" Hermione asked. "I have a hard time believing I would treat books like this." She picked up a book and examined the title. "What is this?" she asked. "My Eleventh Birthday? I've never heard of such a book."_

"_I imagine you already know the story quite well though." Ajax replied. "Go ahead and read it quick."_

_Hermione opened it, immersing herself in the memory. After a moment, she closed the book. "These books are my memories." she said quietly._

"_Yep." Ajax replied. "I must admit, I'm rather impressed with how your memory is laid out. It wouldn't take much to teach Occlumency to you."_

_Hermione put the book on a shelf. "But Harry was saying that Snape wanted him to clear his mind or something. It would be extremely hard to clear this out."_

"_Nigh unto impossible." Ajax confirmed. "And trust me, you don't want to clear out this room. If all these books are your memories, then clearing this room would leave you not even knowing who you are. No, you want to organize these books, index them so you know where everything is. That is part one of your Occlumency training. Once you've completed your training in toto, obliviating will have little to no effect on your memories, unless you actually want to forget the memory."_

"_What are the other parts?" Hermione asked._

"_Ah, getting ahead of yourself. Not good in this discipline. I admire your thirst for knowledge, but you really can't, well, _shouldn't_ try to jump ahead in Occlumency. The other parts include shields, control, as well as stronger defenses than simple shields. Things like oppression clouds, mental daggers, that sort of thing."_

"_That sounds dark though!" Hermione protested._

_Ajax laughed then, a full, hearty laugh. "Thank you." he said at last. "I've needed a good laugh in a while. Access without permission is tantamount to rape. Is fighting against a rapist dark?"_

_Hermione shook her head._

"_Neither is defending your mind with every resource available to you."_

"_What's this book?" Hermione said. "I can't keep a hold of it for long."_

_Ajax swore softly, and went over to it. "Yep, that's an obliviated memory. Give me a moment…"_

_There was a brief flash of light from Ajax's hand to the book, and then the title was visible. "Here you are." Ajax said, handing the book to Hermione. She accepted the book and promptly entered it._

"_What did you see?" Ajax asked. "more to the point, was it a memory of me helping Harry with his mind and greenish black vapor coming out of his scar?"_

"_Yes." Hermione said, closing the book. "How'd you know?"_

"_Took a flying guess." Ajax replied. "To be honest, that was the memory you invited me in here to unseal anyway, so my job here is done."_

"_Wait!" Hermione said. "Don't leave just yet."_

"_My job here is done, what else do you need?" Ajax asked._

"_What do I need to do to learn Occlumency?" Hermione asked, desperate._

"_I recommend cleaning up the memories that aren't on shelves." Ajax said. "Most people organize their memories chronologically, but you can go with any system that works for you." Ajax jumped. "I've just been smacked. I don't know who or why, so I'm leaving to find out."_

Ajax reached up to rub his face, just as Hermione seemed to wake up as well. "That was for putting a spell on my girl." Ron said angrily.

"Your girl, Ron?" Hermione asked frostily.

"Yeah, Dumbledore promised that I could have you in exchange for spying on Harry for him. That and the fifty galleon payout I get once a week." Ron replied.

The sound of a massive smack resounded through the Gryffindor tower, and Ron reeled back. "Ow!" he said, rubbing his face. "What'd you do that for?"

"I'll not be your property." Hermione said.

"But you have to!" Ron said, his face red. "Dumbledore promised, besides, you need to do my homework for me."

Hermione's face had Ajax and Harry backing off, though Ron was either stupid or brave enough to stay where he was. "How dare you suggest that I would do your schoolwork for you, Ronald Bilius Weasley!" Hermione cried.

"Is he about to lose his status as a member of the Golden Trio?" Ajax whispered to Harry.

"What?" Harry hissed back.

"You, Hermione and Ron are collectively referred to as the Hogwarts Golden Trio." Ajax explained. "Just about everyone I met referred to the three of you by that title."

"Bloody titles." Harry grumbled under his breath. "I just want to be Harry James Potter, nothing more."

"I can help you with that." Ajax offered. He flinched as Hermione delivered another slap to Ron's face, then continued chewing him out. His eyes narrowed as Ron went for his wand.

"_Thrysta!"_ Ajax barked, palm outstretched towards Ron.

Ron was forcibly pushed to the side and his spell went very wide, harmlessly impacting on the hearth. "Don't interfere with this, Ajax!" Ron spat. "She's my mud blood bitch, and I'll do as I like with her!"

"Not if I have my way." Harry said, wand pointed at Ron. "If you ever utter the word mud blood or bitch in regards to Hermione again, I'll halfway castrate you, and then let Hermione finish the job."

"I won't bother with the castration if I see you trying to attack her again." Ajax said calmly. "You'll get a free one-way trip to the ground via a Gryffindor Tower window and my boot up your hind end."

"You'd better pray McGonagall can protect you, Weasley." Hermione said flatly. "Because I'm declaring all out war on you."

"It doesn't matter, Hermione." Ron said. "You're mine, and that's the end of it."

"Don't call me by my first name, Weasley." Hermione said coolly, walking to the girl's dormitory. "You've lost that privilege."

The door shut behind her, leaving one very confused Ronald standing in the common room, with one pissed off Harry Potter and one coldly furious Ajax Tone.

"Girls, eh mate?" Ron asked sheepishly, turning to Harry. "Come on, let's get to bed, she'll have cooled off by morning."

"We aren't best mates any more." Harry said.

"Sure we are." Ron said. "I've got fifty galleons a month to prove it."

Harry saw red, and charged towards Ron with a roar.

"_Slytha!"_ Ajax commanded, and Harry fell to the ground mid stride, out cold. "You ever attack a girl again, with me witnessing it, and there will be a trial."

"You can't have a trial for hexing a mud blood." Ron said, acting as if it was the most reasonable thing in the world.

"True." Ajax replied. "But you wouldn't be on trial. I would, for the murder of Ronald Bilius Weasley."

"You're taking _her_ side in this?" Ron asked incredulously. "Of course you would, after bewitching her! You're the one who's caused all this! It's all your fault!" He raised his wand, saying "Reducto!"

The red light sped towards Ajax, who spread his arms as if to say 'what are you going to do?', then said "Shields up."

The red light impacted squarely on a sparkling white wall of energy and dissipated. A moment later, the shield faded as well.

"The attack was unprovoked, Weasley. Go to bed. Let your mind clear out, if such a thing is possible. You are currently making a fool of yourself."

"No I'm not!" Ronald shot back. "You're making a fool of me, and I refuse to allow it to continue. Reducto!"

Once again, the red light impacted upon the shield, which faded away a moment after the spell dissipated.

"Don't make me get involved." Amaranth purred from the doorway to the girls dorm. "You wouldn't like it."

Ron didn't notice, as he was too busy shooting off spell after spell at Ajax.

_Answer to Master of the Blood Wolves: She started deferring all punishments to her later on in the year. She's still working up to a full head of steam._

_You want a look at the inside of Amaranth's mind? I think I could arrange something…_


	11. Chapter 11

Amaranth slipped out of the common room and took flight as a dragon, this time only slightly larger than a cat. She slipped down to Minerva McGonagall's classroom, where the Gryffindor head of house was grading papers from the seventh years.

She looked up with a start, hissing slightly as she saw the small dragon enter her classroom. She didn't hiss long though, as Amaranth changed to her human form, landing lightly on the stone floor.

"Miss Tone." McGonagall said, surprised. "I was unaware you were an animagus."

"Spell fire was detected in the Gryffindor common room." Amaranth replied softly. "My dragon form is less susceptible to spell fire."

McGonagall's face darkened considerably. "Who was fighting?" she asked, standing and drawing her wand.

"Ronald Weasley was firing at the time of my departure. Ajax was absorbing the shots with his shields." Amaranth replied. She closed her eyes briefly. "Ronald is using heavier spells now." her eyes flew open. "That was an Unforgivable!"

The two raced up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower, where the Fat Lady asked for the password.

"Honor and Courage." McGonagall replied. The door swung open, just as Ajax finally got around to drawing his wand.

"So I'm finally getting through to you, huh?" Ronald asked. "You're finally showing me the respect I deserve? Well, it won't help you. I want you to know what you've done."

"I know full well what I've done." Ajax replied, shooting down another spell from the angered Weasley. The relatively clear spell impacted with Ron's spell, and turned the spell into another bullet, which harmlessly clattered to the floor.

"Explain yourself, Mr. Weasley!" McGonagall roared.

Both students flinched at her tone and volume, and Ron lowered his wand.

"Ajax did something to Harry and then Hermione, some sort of spell that turned them Dark, and so I started fighting for my life. I'd rather be dead than Dark!" the red-headed boy said.

"Is this true, Mr. Tone?" McGonagall asked, ice dripping from her words.

"No Ma'am it is not." Ajax replied. "Not very long ago, I destroyed the Horcrux that used to reside in Harry's forehead. I was attempting to help him learn Occlumency so as to end Snape's mental torture sooner rather than later when I came across the damned thing."

"Language, Mr. Tone." McGonagall said automatically. "Though I support the sentiment."

"That particular soul is doomed to reintegrate in the deepest fires of Hell, Professor." Ajax replied frankly. "I should know, because I am an employee of Death Incorporated."

"I've never heard of such a business." McGonagall replied.

"Never will." Ajax returned. "I am immortal, in a sane way, meaning that I have all my mental faculties intact, unlike He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named-But-Will-Be-Named-The-Moment-I-Destroy-The-Last-Of-His-Horcruxes-And-Engage-Him-In-Mortal-Combat. Whew, that's a long name! Anyway, I am 'all here' so to speak, not suffering from any mental illnesses, and I have purpose, meaning I will not eventually go mad simply from existing."

"No-one is immortal, Mr. Tone." McGonagall said kindly. "Not even you."

"Amaranth? The demonstration, please?" Ajax said, heaving a sigh. "it's been a while since I've done this."

"Certainly." Amaranth replied. "Is it necessary?"

"Yeah, I think so." Ajax replied. "Hit it!"

"Avedra Kadavra." Amaranth said, pointing her wand at Ajax.

The rushing green light touched Ajax, and he slumped over, dead.

"You killed him!" McGonagall said, shocked. "Your own brother, before witnesses, with an Unforgivable! Why?"

"I used that spell because of the lack of mess. I killed him because he asked me to, and I'm not his sister." Amaranth replied smugly.

"Oooookay." Ajax said, shaking his head. "That's tingly."

"YOU"RE ALIVE!" McGonagall and Ron exclaimed at the same time.

"Told ya, I'm immortal." Ajax replied, sitting up. "If I'm telling the truth about that, I'm probably telling the truth about the rest, and believe you me, I'm not in the habit of lying."

"So you're immortal." Ron said rudely. "So what? Were you offering Harry and Hermione immortality and then turning them Dark against their will?"

"What?" Ajax asked, thoroughly confused. "I'm not dark. I don't turn people dark. I fight evil people. Drop the dark thing."

"You turned them against Dumbledore." Ron accused. "That's the same thing!"

"Mr. Tone?" McGonagall asked.

"I didn't turn them against Dumbledore." Ajax stated simply. "I merely removed the blocks over their memories from half an hour ago, if it was even that long ago. I entered Harry's mind, with permission. I found massive power blocks on him, including the stock-standard accidental magic limiter. He's got one hell of a core. Get him up to speed and the blocks off his core, and he'll flatten Moldy-shorts like it's his job. Regardless, while I was there, I found the source of the evil I've been picking up on since we were on the train. It had it's hooks in his core, and it took some doing to get said hooks out of the core, and then I destroyed the evil thing. It could not survive without the magic it was getting, and when I destroyed it, there was no way it could resist. It left. Ron here went to the Headmaster about the screaming and moaning while Hermione remained to offer what moral support she could. I borrowed Harry's mental radar and saw Dumbledore and yourself entering the common room with Ron, there were some explanations given, we all went to Dumbledore's office, where he obliviated us all."

"If he obliviated you, how do you remember these events?" McGonagall asked, curious.

"I'm skilled in the mind arts. Cast the Imperious on me. Go ahead. I can shrug it off, and it's not Unforgivable if you've got my permission to cast it on me."

"Imperio." McGonagall said, flicking her wand towards Ajax. "Thrust your head into the fire without the benefit of Floo powder." she said.

Ajax started to walk towards the fire, then stopped. "But the fire's hot." he said. "Why would I stick my head in it without using the Floo powder? I'm sorry Professor, but it just doesn't seem like a good idea, I'll pass."

"You resisted the Imperious. How." McGonagall stated.

"Because of my link with Amaranth." Ajax said. "I can shrug off anything related to the mind arts, and can do interesting things to those who use Legilimancy on me. Not telling what." he added quickly, noting McGonagall's face. "Returning to the original reason for the fight, I told Harry that Dumbledore had obliviated him, and offered to reverse it. He was understandably irritated about the idea of Dumbledore doing such a thing, and was angry with me for suggesting it. However, he allowed me to remove the block. His anger shifted from me to Dumbledore, and I offered to break the block on Hermione's memory. I did so, and then I was accused of turning them Dark by young Mr. Weasley. I also learned that he's being paid fifty galleons a month to be Harry's friend, and that Dumbledore promised Hermione to Ron, without her knowledge and permission, nor, I suspect, the knowledge and permission of her parents."

"Traitor!" Harry said, waking up. "I'll get you for this!" He scrambled to his feet and Ajax swung around and delivered a Petrification spell that laid him flat on the floor again.

"Listen to me, Harry." Ajax said, moving within his line of sight. "You are angry, understandably so. Taking out your wrath on Weasley will not be good, either for you or for your house, especially with Professor McGonagall standing here. I'm going to release you, but if you charge at him again, I'll immobilize you again." So saying, Ajax muttered the counter, and Harry stood up, practically vibrating with anger.

"That traitor." he snarled quietly. "Being paid to be my friend. Is Hermione being paid too?"

"She genuinely cares, Harry." Ajax said, sitting down. "Ron is Dumbledore's most reliable eyes and ears regarding you, because he sticks closer to you than anything else he could use. Even with all the tracking stuff on you, Dumbledore can't get the entire picture, so he uses Ron."

"The bloody goat-fucker has trackers on me?" Harry roared, rearing out of his chair. A meaningful shake of Ajax's wand got Harry's attention, and he slowly sank back into his chair.

"Yes, he's been tracking you." Ajax said carefully. "At least half of his instrumentation is dedicated to your health, physically anyway, and the monitoring of your core strength. He's blocked off ninety percent of your power, but he's had to do it multiple times, your power is growing to match the needs you face, but if he blocks your power again, with the blocks he's been using, you'll end up not much better than a Squib."

"How much extra power are we talking about?" McGonagall asked, concerned.

"He could transfigure a match into a desk like yours with barely any thought at all if all the blocks came off tonight." Ajax said seriously.

"He recommended that I not ask him to break them all at once, so I can cope with the power available to me more easily." Harry said. "I agreed."

"Why would you do that?" McGonagall asked, finally sinking into a chair. This promised to be a long night…

"Because I'm used to my current amount of power." Harry said, shrugging. "I'd rather be like this than blowing the castle apart trying a new defense spell."

"A wise precaution." McGonagall said. After a moment, she noticed students trickling back down from the dorms. "Maybe we should take this to my office."

"Probably a good idea." Ajax said. "We don't need trouble like this."

A few minutes later, five students and Professor McGonagall were entering her classroom, which was attached to her office.

Ajax fished out his wand, and muttered something unintelligible, causing a band of light to erupt from his wand. The light created a vertical fan, and Ajax swept the room with it before stopping the lightshow. "Clear." he said. "We do not have unwelcome company, be in disillusioned people, animagi, or people hiding under invisibility cloaks. We are also clear of any listening charms, or other such surveillance tactics."

"Thank you, Mr. Tone." McGonagall said, sitting down.

"Just me, or does he remind you at all of Moody?" Harry asked quietly. Ajax still heard him.

"It's all part of knowing when to be paranoid and when to not be paranoid." Ajax said, grinning. "I can create the illusion of not having a care in the world, or I can set up a room for a secure meeting."

"Very good, Mr. Tone." McGonagall said, conjuring some tea. "Have a seat please."

Ajax transfigured a rather uncomfortable-looking chair to something a little more comfortable before sitting down.

"Tea, anyone?"

"I'll not drink tea with those traitors." Ron said angrily.

"Yes, please." Hermione said, leaning forward to accept the cup. Harry did likewise, while Ajax conjured a steaming cup of coffee for himself.

"Sorry." he said. "I was built and raised in America, I've got a thing for coffee, triple sweet and triple cream." He smiled as he took a sip. "I imagine you want this from the top?"

"Yes, Mr. Tone. I do."

"I've been working on a magical amplifier. It's still in developmental stages, and a bit volatile."

"Volatile? Just how dangerous is this device?" McGonagall asked.

"Worst case scenario, London get vaporized, with me dead center in the blast radius." Ajax replied seriously. "Amaranth and I had been working on a converter leak, and then I tested it after we got it fixed. Hermione can attest to the test, as she was there when I levitated nearly everything in the common room. We had been halfway through the test when Harry entered the room, clutched his head in pain, and backed out. I was unable to stop the test halfway through, due to the issues with massive explosions, but as soon as we were done, I went outside and talked with him. Professor Snape had theoretically been teaching him Occlumency, but in reality, it seems he was doing little more than ravaging Harry's mind. Since he's family until such time as he or I leave Gryffindor, I decided that it was my responsibility to help him. Upon gaining permission to access his mind, I found that his thoughts are a jumbled mess, his core had been blocked, multiple times, and a soul fragment of Tom Marvelo Riddle was plugged into his core, leaching magic and maintaining a security leak to the aforementioned Riddle. I destroyed the soul fragment, properly called a horcrux, then withdrew from his mind because you and Headmaster Dumbledore had showed up. From there, we went to his office, explained what there was to explain, then got obliviated for the trouble. Due to my considerable skill in mind arts, I shrugged off the Obliviation, told Harry and Hermione about it, then broke the memory blocks that had been forced upon them. Ron accused me of turning them Dark, Hermione fought him, rather one-sidedly, I might add, then went to her dorm. Ron admitted to being paid fifty galleons per week to be Harry's friend, though it was more a thing of being Dumbledore's eyes and ears near Harry. Ron was his best supply of intelligence concerning Harry, so it served him well to ensure that Ron stayed friends with Harry. Careful Harry, I really don't want to immobilize you again." The last had been directed at Harry, who was shaking with rage.

"Miss Granger, can you verify that what Mr. Tone has said is correct?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes ma'am." Hermione replied. "Weasley attacked Ajax while he was helping me with the obliviated memory, said he was putting a spell on me or something, and said he wouldn't stand for his girl being turned dark. I slapped him, twice in addition to chewing him out for thinking that he owns me. Harry threatened to halfway castrate him if Weasley ever uttered the words 'mud blood' or 'bitch' in reference to me again, and Ajax upped the ante slightly, saying that if Ron attacked me, he would get a free one-way trip off the Tower with Ajax' boot up his arse. I told Weasley that I was declaring war on him, and he'd better pray you could protect him. I then went to my dorm, but I came back to the common room when I heard spell-fire being exchanged."

Ajax snorted. "Hardly an exchange. I never fired any spells towards the youngest of the male Weasleys, only held my shields against them with exception to the spells that would have passed through my shields. Those were summarily shot down with a spell of my own."

"I see." McGonagall said. "Mr. Weasley, what is your viewpoint?"

"We were in the Headmaster's office for something, I don't remember what. We went back to the common room, where Tone here said that the Headmaster had obliviated us. He offered to un-obliviate Harry, and then Hermione. When Harry explained what had happened, I realized that Tone was turning them dark, and getting them to go against the Headmaster, so I slapped Tone's face to get him out of Hermione's mind before he could do his damage." Ron explained.

"And is it true that you're being paid to be Mr. Potter's friend?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes." Ron admitted. "the Headmaster said that Harry needed a good, reliable friend in the Light, otherwise he might turn Dark."

"Might I submit, Professor." Ajax started. "That Light and Dark are not synonymous with good and evil?"

"What are you suggesting, Mr. Tone?" came the sharp reply.

"Simply this." Ajax said, shifting slightly in his seat. "Professor Lupin was a werewolf, right?"

"Yes, but I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"Werewolves are considered to be Dark creatures, and properly so." Ajax said. "Yet Professor Lupin was not evil, was he? Did he inherently seek to torture and kill, to rape and to pillage? Somehow, I think not."

"So Dark is not necessarily evil?" Hermione asked skeptically. "I'm not so sure about that…" she trailed off, deep in thought.

"And there's proof for you, Mr. Weasley, that I didn't turn her Dark." Ajax said smugly. "If she were Dark, or if I had turned her Dark, by your standards at least, she would not have questioned a concept that seems to be rather radical here."

"I believe we've had enough excitement for one night." McGonagall said at last, breaking the silence that had sprung up. "Go to your beds, I will be thinking about how to deal with this situation. Good night."

As the five teens left the office, Ajax paused in the doorway to cancel his transfiguration.

"Good night, Professor McGonagall." he said, before slipping out.

They made it to their beds without incident, though Ajax took the time to raise shields before drifting into slumber.

_Okay, I've made it to eleven chapters, and I've got eleven reviews. I know there's more than that, I can read the traffic meters. I need more reviews, people!_

_Answer to Master of the Blood Wolves: I do not fear rusty fish-hooks. I make my own trail, and since you like my other stuff, that's probably why you would still consider this to be good. Mind that I also consider this as good work, but I'm the author, of course I think it's good!_


	12. Chapter 12

When Ajax awoke at dawn on Saturday, the weather was crystal clear, perfect for flying. He put his things in order, and exited the common room, heading for the astronomy tower with his broom in hand. He had been worried about someone attempting to take his broom, with all it's special enchantments, so he designed a modified version. It was a platinum ring that could be opened, placed on a broom, and closed again. The enchantments on the ring overrode the ones on the broom so long as the two were in contact with each other. Once he took the ring off, the broom reverted to it's original enchantments.

He was on his way to the Astronomy tower when Filch's cat found him. Five minutes later, the unpleasant caretaker had found Ajax walking onto the decking at the top of the tower.

"And just what are you planning now, you nasty little maggot?" Filch asked nastily.

"A little morning jaunt on my broom before breakfast." Ajax replied, snapping the ring shut on the handle. A wave of green light flowed from the ring, covering the entire broom before fading.

"I know what you're up to." Filch sneered. "You wanted to place dung bombs in here, and I showed up in time to stop you."

"Nope." Ajax replied. "No dung bombs. Bye." So saying, he took three running steps and a sharp hop, sending him flying over the railing.

Filch made an annoyed noise in the back of his throat, but left the tower, presumably to find some other student to pick on.

Ajax leveled off and hovered while extracting his wand. Upon tapping the ring, the letters M.P. changed to show F-14.

"Engage." Ajax whispered, putting his wand away.

The broom jerked and swiftly ramped up to full speed as Ajax leaned forward.

The flight ended well enough, and Ajax took the ring off the broom and placed it in his pocket before entering the Great Hall for breakfast.

Few students were there, being Saturday meant that there were no classes scheduled, just the Quidditch game that was to occur after lunch.

"Did it work?" Amaranth asked as Ajax sat down.

"Yeah. Filch caught me at the end of my preflight, so I'm pretty sure he and the queen of pink will have it out for me if they don't already. I didn't want to stick around for his ranting about my dung bombs that, by the way, I happen to not have. Eh, never having something is probably circumstantial evidence to the High Inquisitor anyway, so I'll probably get to carve 'I will not use dung bombs' into the back of my hand for several days until it scars. I wonder if she's even aware that a blood quill is illegal."

"We never did ask McGonagall about catnip, did we?" Amaranth asked suddenly. "We should talk to her, I think she is more than trustworthy."

"Yeah, though we need to keep Dumbles in the dark. I'm not entirely certain I can trust him any more than I could throw a dry sponge underwater." Ajax answered.

That day, Gryffindor took flight against Slytherin, and thoroughly trounced the house of cunning. Draco antagonized Harry and the Twins, resulting in a ban from the team for the three, and the loss of their brooms to the Inquisitor.

"You are our Seeker now." Katie said, finding Ajax reading in the tower. "Don't do anything against anybody, we can't afford to loose people from the team like that again."

"What happened?" Ajax asked, looking up.

"Draco made some pretty stupid comments about Harry's mom, as well as the Weasley's home. He was trying to get attacked, and he almost succeeded. With Umbridge there, it resulted in us loosing a Seeker and two Beaters."

"Great." Ajax muttered sarcastically. "I really need to keep my head down now."

"What do you mean?" Katie asked, suddenly worried.

"I think the pink bitch has it out for me, suspects me of not actually supporting the Ministry." Ajax replied, sounding resigned.

"And do you support the Ministry?" Katie asked.

"No. I'm loyal to Atlantis, not the British Ministry. They know I'm only here for one year." Ajax replied, setting the book down.

"Only here for a year?" Katie asked. "Why?"

"Broadening my experiences." Ajax replied. "It's part of my training, one year at an institution other than Atlantis, if I can survive that long at least. With the current unrest here, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm gone before Christmas." He stood up as the rest of the Gryffindor team entered. "All hail the victory of the lions?" he asked Harry.

"Not really." Harry replied. "We won the match, but Fred, George and I are never flying in Quidditch again."

"Need help shutting her down?" Ajax asked.

The looks on the Twin's faces sharpened almost at once. "If you can do anything."

"That will get back"

"At the toad, we'd"

"Be extremely interested"

"In helping you"

"pull it off"

They said.

"Okay." Ajax replied. "I think we can get rid of her by…Halloween?"

"He wasn't confused, Gred."

"I know, Forge."

"And he's ambitious."

"Gone by Halloween."

"That's fast, Gred."

"Fast indeed, Forge."

"We shall help out as much as possible!" The two exclaimed together.

"And by the way,"

"How are you not"

"Confused?"

"Simple." Ajax replied, grinning at the two pranksters. "Eragon and Saphira used to do it to me all the time, and one of them spoke in my head. Two people speaking outside my head is easy."

"Do we have"

"Competition?"

"Nah, they don't really pull pranks." Ajax replied. "Just a bit too serious, especially with one of them being a dragon."

"Wicked." the twins breathed.

"Yeah, now listen, here's what we'll do…"

The three plotted well into the night, and when Peeves showed up, the twins caught him and asked that he help them in their mission to remove Umbridge.

Three weeks had gone by, and everybody who knew of the twin's penchant for pranks was on edge. Fred and George had been somber most of the time, occasionally laughing at a joke, or tell one, but no pranks had been forthcoming from them. It culminated in Ajax visiting McGonagall alone in her office one Friday night.

"Mr. Tone, what can I do for you?" she asked, looking up from her paperwork.

"Remove Umbridge from the premises?" Ajax asked tentatively, before cracking a slight grin.

"I am afraid that is beyond my reach, Mr. Tone, so what do you really what to talk about?" the stern Transfiguration professor asked kindly.

"I've been talking with the Weasley twins." Ajax started.

"Heaven help us all." McGonagall interjected, looking up at the ceiling as if to find divine help there.

"We intend to get rid of her, what I've dubbed the 'Master Prank', the culmination of their career, seeing as how it's their last year. Best part is, they won't get caught, seeing as how I'll be doing some rather spectacular stuff, or at least, saying some pretty spectacular stuff."

"What do you intend to do?" McGonagall asked, summoning her tea set.

Ajax grinned, though it didn't reach his eyes. "I intend to throw Umbridge out of Hogwarts."

McGonagall closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose for several seconds. "How?" she managed at last, her voice barely a whisper.

"I am going to tell the story of Merlin's people." Ajax replied. "The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and force Umbridge out with it. Merlin sent me on an investigative mission."

"Now I know you're joking me." McGonagall said, pouring tea. "Sugar?"

"Two lumps, please." Ajax responded. "And no, I'm not joking. It will be done on Halloween, and we've got a part for you to play as well."

"Me?" McGonagall asked. "Oh, no. You won't be roping me into something that would get me fired."

"Your call." Ajax replied, sitting back casually. "For now, we aren't antagonizing the queen of pink."

"That's simply good sense." McGonagall stated.

"Hmm."

"Just how do you intend to pull this off, Mr. Tone?" McGonagall asked, setting down her cup.

Ajax regarded her with an amused expression.

"Promise you won't tell the pink queen?" Ajax asked. He continued at her nod. "Fred and George will set up a web of spell work to be set off by a trigger phrase on Halloween. I intend to have Umbridge removed at that time. All we need you to do is authorize a talent show to be held on Halloween, you know, give the students a chance to show off to their parents in whichever way they choose, so long as it's not harmful."

"That doesn't sound dangerous." McGonagall said cautiously. "Do you really think it can be pulled off?"

"Yeah, but I think that there's only one way we can use to get her to allow such an event." Ajax said seriously, standing up.

"And that might be?"

"We simply need to make the Ministry look like they are the supreme good guys for allowing this." Ajax replied, smiling toothily.

A moment later, the heavy oak door closed with a quiet click behind Ajax.

It was with a feeling of disorientation that Ajax stepped into Umbridge's office. Between the color pink being almost everywhere and the cacophony of kittens mewing on tea saucers set around the room, Ajax's senses of sight and sound were slightly overloaded.

"Yes, Mr. Tone?" Umbridge asked sweetly. "What can I do for you tonight?"

The overly, sickeningly sweet voice set Ajax's nerves on edge, and he irritably twitched his wand by his side. The kitten symphony was instantly muted, at least, as far as Ajax's ears went.

"I am here to seek permission for a talent show on Halloween, Madame Umbridge." he stated formally.

"_Professor_ Umbridge if you please." Delores replied.

"My apologies, Professor, I had thought the more important title took precedence over active titles if they were less important. I must have been confused." Ajax replied, mentally pouring several gallons of oil over his voice. "It would be a good opportunity for the Ministry. The parents of Muggleborns who are considering pulling their children would be more likely to allow them to stay, despite the unrest."

"Unrest, Mr. Tone?" Umbridge asked sharply. "There is no unrest here. You must be mistaken."

"Obviously." Ajax replied dryly. "Still, there are rumors of rumors, an ill odor on the wind, and there are those, especially among the muggleborns, who are…uneasy at the moment. There are those who can read political and social atmospheres like a book, and I have been trained by some of the best. Something will break loose, one way or another, and since few can accurately predict which way it will go, they are worried. This would be a good opportunity for the Ministry to show the as yet unconvinced that everything is, as a matter of fact, under control. Excellent PR is one of the pillars of government, as I'm certain you are well aware. That stupid thing with you-know-who, for instance. At first, the people believed the bumbling fool and his pawn, also known as Dumbledore and Harry Potter, but then the Daily Prophet told the people that everything was fine, the minister himself had declared that Riddle wasn't back."

Umbridge had listened interestedly, a wicked smile on her toad like features until the name Riddle came up. "Who is Riddle?" She asked, leaning forward intently in her seat.

"His full name is Thomas Marvolo Riddle, shortened to Tom Marvolo Riddle, which led to the anagram I am Lord … well, you've heard _that_ name." Ajax replied, a look of disgust on his face.

"How would you know about that?" Umbridge asked, seemingly satisfied with the answer to the first question.

"Took a sheet of parchment, swapped the letters around, and that's what I came up with that made any sense. I then checked the name in the Hogwarts records. Madame Pince helped me with that one. As it turns out, there was a student here by the name of Tom Marvolo Riddle. The incident with the young lady now known as Moaning Myrtle happened around that time, and things got stupid ever after that until an incident involving a baby and a killing curse."

"Do you believe he's back, Mr. Tone? I'm not sure I can tell."

"No." Ajax replied, glad that he didn't have to lie. "Once a person is dead, they are dead. They cross that boundary beyond which Magic means nothing, and they never return. This IS of course assuming that he even died. Maybe he hasn't died, and simply went under the radar, to borrow a muggle phrase."

"Under the radar?" Umbridge questioned. "And what do you mean 'assuming he died'?"

"Under the radar means that a person is hiding somewhere undetectable, or moving in an undetectable manner. In other words, maybe _he_ disappeared, hiding away somewhere to plan his next move. As for the 'assuming he died' bit, let's say, for the sake of the argument that he missed the presence of young Harry Potter. After the murder of the Potters and the destruction of their home, let's say Riddle decided to hide away for a bit, researching something, looking for a new way to further his goals. Happened before; a tyrant king who used magic went and conquered every member of a magic-using order that didn't turn to him, then conquered a section of the continent before hiding out in his castle at the capital. There he stayed, for nearly forty years before sallying out for a bloody two-year campaign of tightening control over his current holdings, then returned to his castle and hid there for several more years before being defeated. It is said that the oath-breaking king was trying to find _the_ word. The _true name_ of magic. It is said that the person who has control of that word has control over all of magic, it's use and users. If he-who-must-not-be-named were to stumble upon that word, every magical society on the planet would fall under his sway in under a week, if it took him that long. Conquest of the Muggles would be complete in under a month. A year if he was stealthy. This is, of course assuming that knowledge of the true name was written down. If it was passed along verbally and died somewhere, then chances are good that it would never again be found, lost to time.

Still, I came to ask for a Ministry-approved Halloween talent show that would serve as an excellent PR opportunity. Imagine how well the Minister's ratings would do when the parents of every child in Hogwarts can see that the Minister is willing to take time out of his busy schedule to see the next generation performing. I don't think he would even have to campaign for his next term in office!"

"Is that so, Mr. Tone?" Umbridge asked dangerously. "How do I know you aren't pretending with all of this?"

"Children are any nation's greatest treasure. Through them, any legacy can live forever, if trained properly. I have seen places where cruel and heartless soldiers turn aside from killing children - it is considered the worst disgrace one could bring upon themselves. I would not hesitate to use such a powerful tool as presented by children." Ajax replied. "At least, in harmless applications such as boosting my public opinion."

"Very good, Mr. Tone." Umbridge said at last. "I will grant this request. You have promise. Enough promise, I dare say, to become a member of my Inquisitorial Squad."

"You are an Inquisitor?" Ajax asked.

"I am." Umbridge replied.

Ajax straightened to a military posture and saluted. "My apologies for not showing the respect due your rank earlier, Madame Inquisitor!" He said stiffly, his eye boring holes into the wall directly in front of him.

"At ease, Mr. Tone." Umbridge said, chuckling. "You were unaware at that moment in time."

"_I would love to 'arrange' a meeting with Aragon for this woman."_ Ajax said to Amaranth. _"She's a real, live, Ministry-approved Inquisitor!"_

"So. Do you accept this esteemed position?" Umbridge asked.

"I do not think I would be able to discharge the associated responsibilities while maintaining my academics, Madame Inquisitor." Ajax replied stiffly.

"Mm. A shame, you would have been a fine member of the Squad." Umbridge stood, indicating that the meeting was over.

Grimacing, Ajax twitched his wand again, and the mewing of the kitten-plates filled his ears again.

"What was that, Mr. Tone?" Umbridge asked, having seen the movement. "I didn't quite catch that."

"I had set a filter spell on my ears, to keep the noise of your kittens out of my brain. I was pretty sure that the abundance of pink combined with the noise of a thousand hungry kittens was going to overload my brain. Goodnight, Madame Inquisitor." So saying, Ajax politely exited the room, hearing the heavy oak door click behind him, followed by an odd sizzle as the silencing charms activated.

Suddenly tired and bleary-eyed, Ajax made his way to the Gryffindor tower, where he went to sleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

_A/N: I think I'm done now. I guess I need to get going on the next chapter, but for now, I'll settle for posting this one._

_Answer to the review from Master of the Blood Wolves: Yeah, but he's not normal, is he?_


	13. Chapter 13

Halloween was only a half-day, so that the students could spend the rest of the day preparing their costumes for the Halloween Feast that night. Hermione was going as a pirate, upon which Ajax decided to put a spell over her so that she would speak like a pirate while in her costume. Ron, being original, went for dressing as a professional Quidditch player, and Harry, thinking about his wizarding moniker of the Boy-Who-Lived decided to go to the feast as a Zombie, becoming the Boy-Who-Undied.

Ajax had opted to wear a black shirt with matching black pants, shoes and socks, as well as a rather large dark green cape that had a habit of curling it's edges around Ajax's hands and arms whenever they were by his side. A black fedora with a red feather stuck in one side completed the ensemble.

Amaranth had dressed as though she was nobility, creating a rather striking image when she entered the Great Hall. A few who had not really had the time to meet her before had actually thought she was a member of some important governing body. She did nothing to dissuade them of the idea.

The parents of the students had not worn costumes, and felt slightly out of place, especially those who had no magic of their own. A few minutes before six, Minster Fudge arrived, which allowed the wizarding parents to feel slightly less out of place, as he had not costumed himself either.

The feast began, and Ajax smirked into his cup before setting down the goblet and engaging his hands in a series of movements that he had gone over with Gred and Forge earlier.

Their eyebrows briefly went up before returning to normal, and Forge delivered the counter series that indicated the plan was going well.

Ajax grinned slightly, and nodded his acknowledgement.

The meal was quickly finished for once, as everyone present seemed to be very interested in the upcoming talent show.

In the end, Hufflepuff came up with the best comedian award, Ravenclaw received best dance team, and Slytherin were the best musicians.

The Gryffindors hadn't really stood out yet, but Ajax figured that the house of the brave would be getting the most shocking award when he went up.

"Ajax Tone!" McGonagall called out at last. The show had wound down, and the candles were sputtering in their sockets, something of a visual reminder of how far along the show was.

Ajax winked at the Twins, who smirked back, and walked to the front.

He allowed a tight smile to grace his lips for a moment before silently, wandlessly summoning Merlin's staff. "By the authority vested in me by Merlin himself, I declare these proceedings…OPEN!"

As expected, this threw everyone into an uproar.

Ajax had expected the noise, but he hadn't expected the furniture of the Great Hall to rearrange itself into something resembling a courtroom.

"You will find that you are all stuck fast to your seats, and nothing you can do will change that fact." Ajax said calmly. "Additionally, this room has a massive charm over it, designed to make everyone present tell the truth, and nothing but the truth. For these proceedings, I will be the prosecution, and Hogwarts herself will be the judge. So Mote It Be."

His words rang in everyone's ears, and they watched to see what would happen. They were not disappointed, as moments later, a stern lady in regal judge's robes materialized in the judge's chair.

Her piercing gaze swept the room, showing no emotion as her slate grey eyes took in the situation. Her hair had once been a rich auburn, but had changed to steel grey over time. Her glasses were square and unframed.

"You have called me here, here I am. You may now begin with your case, Mr Tone." she said regally.

"Thank you, your honor." Ajax said, bowing slightly to the judge's bench. "Before I begin shredding certain members of this faculty, I have a quick story to tell you. Entirely true of course, the charms over this room would allow nothing less.

"In the United States, Cheyenne Mountain Colorado, there is a device called the Stargate. It was known by another name, _astria porta_, by the race who built it. It allows for instantaneous travel between any two points in the galaxy, provided there is a gate at each end.

"Muggles, as I believe you call them, found the device in Egypt, sent it to the US to figure out what it is, and when they finally cracked the secret, they jury rigged a machine to dial the Stargate with, seeing as how the original DHD was missing.

"Muggles started going through, exploring worlds, and making friends and enemies as they went. There was a terrible race of beings called the Goa'uld, who's body resembled that of a snake. It was they who took the form of the Egyptian gods, and it was they who buried the Stargate of this world. The muggles ran up against these advanced beings, recognized the tyranny they represented, and fought against them. They did not run and hide, but began a campaign against these evil creatures, eventually destroying the power they once held.

"It was due to their efforts that this world was placed in jeopardy multiple times, and certain disaster was averted multiple times due to the heroic efforts of a select group of muggles called SG-1. They worked in secret, not allowing many people in on the secret under the mountain Cheyenne. Perhaps it was the wrong move, perhaps not. They were worried about the same thing that most of you here tonight worry about. Mass hysteria, fear, and the human desire to wipe out anything they don't understand. They were afraid of being shut down, by their own people. Many of you here tonight claim to be better than muggles, you claim to be different. It could be argued that you are different enough to be a different race, while similar enough to blend in quite easily. You fear others destroying you, SG-1 and their friends feared their own people turning on them.

"At last though, the Goa'uld threat was no more, and the denizens of the Milky Way were getting used to the idea of freedom. Then, a strange device was located, designed for extremely long-range communication, it swapped the minds of two members of SG-1, and put them in another galaxy. I think the name of the galaxy they ended up in was called Ida, but I'm not sure. What I do know, however, is that they attracted the attention of the Ori. These were the same people that the Alterrans had fled from, twenty thousand years previous, due to differences in ideology.

"The Ori, having learned of the Milky Way, set out to enslave through their religion, and once again, this galaxy knew fear. It was because of this threat that I was given a special ship, and sent out to solve Morgan's puzzle."

This incited whispering among the people who were listening.

"Not only could my ship sail the cold black sea of emptiness that is space, but it could slid through the walls of reality as easily as a needle through a shirt. I collected the fragments of Morgan's puzzle, learning much in the process. In the end, I returned the pieces of the puzzle to the SGC, the organization that SG-1 answered to. Daniel Jackson, a muggle, specializes in long-dead languages, and is fluent in the language of the Alterrans. Many of you here tonight know words from their language, as they are the basis of the spoken spell.

"After much trail-and-error, we reassembled the tablet that gave us the first clue on our galactic treasure hunt. Needless to say, having been set up by Morgan Le Fay, the treasure hunt was usually dangerous, and always exciting. When we finally reached the end, we discovered what Le Fay had done.

"She was not Merlin's enemy, in fact, she was his sister. They had ascended together, to a higher plane of existence, where they existed solely as sheer energy. However, Merlin did not agree with the others who had ascended when they said that they would do nothing against the Ori, or the Goa'uld, or the Replicators, or any other threat they had fled from.

"Merlin descended, partially. He found himself to be in the time of Arthur Pendragon, and he began work on a device that would destroy ascended beings. He fully intended to wipe out the ascended Ori, but the others, those who were ascended, did not trust his motives, and sent his sister to stop him.

"Merlin was a busy man, helping Arthur, guiding the Founding Four, and building his weapon in secret. It was he who had the initial idea for Hogwarts, and it was he who trained the Founders and shared his dream with them.

"They must have known there was something different about him, because they left orders with the castle herself that if anything should happen to the four of them, that Merlin was to gain control. Of course, they grew old and died, as all people do, but Merlin lived on. He never actually took control of the castle, though he did check up on it a few times.

"Then Morgan Le Fay pinned him down. She had realized that Merlin was right, but she had her orders, and she stopped Merlin from finishing his weapon. She destroyed it's components, then placed Merlin in a stasis chamber, then left a puzzle so that one day, someone would be able to build Merlin's weapon.

"When we came upon Merlin, he was old. Sensing that I was magical, he privately charged me to find out what had become of Hogwarts, was it destroyed, was it flourishing, was it rotting at the core?"

"I came in and investigated. What I found appalled me. Because of my cool repertoire of magic, I was able to go anywhere without being noticed by most people, and if the portraits or elves noticed me, the fact that I carried the signet ring of Merlin kept them from telling anyone.

"I was there, hidden in the classroom of one Professor Snape, and I can say with certainty that he is one of the defendants here tonight.

I witnessed the drunkenness of Trelawney, and noticed the web of spells laid over her. Her mind was damaged almost beyond repair, and there is only one way I can think of to restore her to any semblance of normal.

I watched students use the knowledge given them by Professor McGonagall as they transfigured books into pillows, and slept through the class as a goblin rebellion obsessed ghost droned on and on and on. It was really quite hypnotic.

I saw Professor McGonagall turn away one of her lions who had come to her about the abusive Professor Snape, stating that she would not interfere. I saw the slight compulsion charm laid on her to turn a blind eye to anything Snape did, and I witnessed the same on Professor Sprout, of Hufflepuff, and Professor Flitwick of Ravenclaw.

"I watched as Headmaster Dumbledore condoned the actions of Professor Snape, encouraging the favoritism and abuse he displayed in the classroom. I watched as, for the fifth year, apparently, Madame Pomfrey was told to forget about what was happening to one Harry Potter over the summer, and to not treat him for it. There are some here who could cry 'Healer-Patient' confidentiality, and you'd be right, but for two things. First and foremost, I revealed to aforementioned Harry Potter what I knew about his medical history, and asked for permission to admit it as evidence against the defendants. He agreed. Secondly, I have the authority of Merlin at this time. I could lock this school down and do whatever I want, and Hogwarts would back me up."

Dumbledore had a stricken look on his face, as if realizing that he was about to lose on a very large gamble. Ajax smiled slightly, but it was mirthless.

"Worst of all, I witnessed as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher entered a realm that was not hers to enter-"

"You will cease the madness at once, and beg for mercy, beg that we don't simply give the Dementor's Kiss right now!" Umbridge said, upon hearing herself referenced.

Ajax shot her a cold, disdainful look. "I should kill you for the _damage_ you've done to the education being given here, especially in a subject that may keep someone alive in a firefight." he said. His voice carried no anger, it was a simple statement of fact. "Instead, I'll silence you."

Delores kept speaking, but nobody else heard her, and Ajax continued.

"I witnessed as she tortured students for such crimes as daring to think for themselves, telling the truth rather than accepting the Ministry line, and other such things. I can tell that some of you, mainly, those who have muggleborn witches and wizards here, are beginning to see red. This has been building for some time now, and justice will be swift."

Ajax turned to face the pink toad, and with disgust clear in his voice, he said. "Delores Jane Umbridge, you are charged with the willful sabotage of the student's education, un-called for torture of students with items banned by the Ministry for Magic, specifically, blood quills, and the attempted hostile take-over of this fine institution. There are other charges that can be brought against you, but as they are not Hogwart's business, I will not touch on them. Suffice to say, we know that you sent Dementors to take out one Harry Potter. How do you plead to these charges?"

The silencing spell faded, and Delores said "Can you even hear me?"

"Yes, unfortunately, now we can hear you." Ajax said. There was some laughter among the students.

"I plead not guilty, you will pay for this farce of a trial. As soon as I can bribe Fudge into giving me that next Educational Decree, I'll string you up by your hamstrings!" Delores said.

"So entered, Delores. Exhibit A, ladies and gentlemen, she's admitted to wanting to literally string me up by my hamstrings, not to mention bribery of Fudge!" Ajax said. "Hogwarts, how find you?"

"We find Delores Jane Umbridge guilty on all counts." the judicial representation of Hogwarts replied. "You may punish as you see fit, up to and including the taking of her life."

"So noted." Ajax replied. "Delores Umbridge, education is a right, not a privilege. I can't deny students an education here, unless they are a danger to the education of others. You however, are not a student. At the end of these proceedings, you will have one hour to gather your belongings and exit this castle. If you are within the castle wards when your hour is up, you will be forcibly and magically ejected from the castle grounds, and any belongings left behind will be destroyed or appropriated for use by the students as Hogwarts and I deem appropriate."

Delores' face turned a very dark color, but the silencing charm held, and Ajax ignored her.

"Professor Severus Snape, you are charged with rampant favoritism towards your own house, the House of Slytherin, and the willful sabotage of education. You have needlessly and baselessly verbally attacked students not of your own house, and while you may be a brilliant potions master, you are a poor teacher. How do you plead?"

"I plead not guilty." Snape said quietly.

"So noted." Ajax replied. "Hogwarts, how find you?"

"We find Severus Snape guilty of the crimes listed." Hogwarts replied. "You may punish as you see fit, up to but not including death."

"Severus Snape, you have three days to clear out your belongings and leave the premises. If you are still within the area covered by the school's wards, you will be forcibly and magically ejected, and any belongings left behind will be appropriated or destroyed as needed." Ajax said.

Severus nodded silently, looking oddly relieved as Ajax turned to Dumbledore.

"You are the worst of the three." Ajax said coldly. "You have deliberately sabotaged the education of all students here, namely with your interference with Sybil Trelawney, causing her to loose most of her ability to think straight, your maintaining of a ghost to teach History of Magic, your hiring and protection of a known terrorist organization member, namely, Severus Snape, the hiring of incompetent teachers such a Gilderoy Lockhart, as well as the cancellation of certain classes available for muggleborn students, reckless endangerment, criminal reckless endangerment, and the interference in the case of one Harry Potter and one Poppy Pomfrey every year." Ajax said, reading off of a paper. "How do you plead?"

"When you look at it like that, guilty." Dumbledore stated. "But there is more that you aren't seeing. This was all for the greater good." he said soothingly.

Ajax raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Harry had to come into this unprepared, that's why I placed him with the Dursley's, despite the fact that James and Lily Potter didn't want him there. I knew they were the worst sort of muggles, and that they would abuse him, but I needed that so that he would see me as someone he could trust. He needed friends I could control too, which was why I hired Ronald Weasley and attempted to hire Hermione Granger."

Ajax casually flicked his eyes to where Harry was seated next to Ron and Ginny Weasley. His face was starting to show serious anger.

Dumbledore continued. "I set up an illegal marriage contract between Ginerva Weasley and Harry Potter so as to make sure the Potter wealth would not stagnate forever, because Harry needs to die."

"Woah, what?" Ajax exclaimed, giving a double-take for dramatic effect. "Explain."

"Harry has a Horcrux in him, that's what caused the famous lightning bolt scar on his forehead. It's actually a piece of the dark Lord. The only way to destroy a Horcrux is to destroy it's container. He must die for the wizarding world. When he is dead, then I can kill the Dark Lord, claim Harry's fame, and the Weasley's can claim his gold through Ginerva's marriage contract. I sealed the Potter will because Harry was supposed to be considered an adult when he reached eleven, and he was supposed to have Sirius Black as his godfather. Despite the fact that it was Peter Pettigrew who gave the Potter's secret to Dumbledore, I stood by and allowed Black to go to prison without a trial. I needed complete control over Harry, and if he had Sirius, it would have adverse affects on all my plans. The will stated that he was to go to Sirius, but if that didn't work, the Longbottoms or the Bones family. Living with either of those would have given Harry too much information on the wizarding world, making him difficult to control." It looked as though Dumbledore would have continued, but Hogwarts interrupted. "We find him guilty on all counts, he is to be handed over to Harry Potter for sentencing or prosecution beyond these halls."

Ajax nodded sharply in deference to her words. "Very well. Professor McGonagall, you are an excellent transfiguration teacher, and aside from the magic forcing you to leave Snape alone, I have found you to be fair and just in your dealings. It is my understanding that you are at the same time a Transfiguration teacher, head of House Gryffindor, and the Deputy Headmistress, is this correct to the best of your knowledge?"

"It is." McGonagall said.

"It is my understanding that the Deputy is next in line for the position of Headmaster or Headmistress, correct?"

"Yes." McGonagall replied.

"Then you will need to either forfeit the position of Headmistress, or find a new transfiguration teacher to take you place, as well as a new house head and a new deputy. This in addition to finding new DADA and potion teachers." Ajax said. "Which will you choose?"

"I choose to become the new Headmistress." McGonagall stated.

"It is right and proper." Ajax replied. "Do you swear before Hogwarts, on your magic, to hold the safety and education of the students as the most important thing, more important than anything else in this school?"

"I swear before all witnesses here, on my life and my magic that I will act in the best interests of the students under my care, both in safety and education. So Mote It Be." McGonagall stated, holding out her wand.

A white glow surrounded her, before fading away. "Binns, you are fired." McGonagall deadpanned a moment later. "Hooch, get new brooms. Choose something appropriate for new fliers, not Nimbus or Firebolts."

Ajax grinned slightly at her words. "Can it wait until these proceedings are over?"

"Only until then." McGonagall said, after thinking about it for several seconds.

"Thank you." Ajax said. "Sybil Trelawney, Albus Dumbledore has messed around with you so much that you are down to two choices. You may leave, and attempt to seek medical care for your problems. The second option is better, as it will allow you to continue to teach here, as well as restore you to your clear state of mind. I will not go into more detail in public, but you may speak to me afterwards."

Sybil nodded, contemplative expression firmly in place.

"I believe that is all that needs done that I can do. I am but one man, and I do not have either the time or the knowledge required to overhaul this school. I am glad to leave Hogwarts under Headmistress McGonagall's competent guidance, secure in the knowledge that Hogwarts and the Sorting Hat will be able to help her as needed. By the power vested in me by Merlin, I declare all judgments final and binding. So Mote It Be. By the authority vested in my by Merlin himself, I declare these proceedings CLOSED.

The truth charms have been removed, and the sticking charms applied to the chairs have been removed." Ajax paused to think for a moment. "Will the students Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood please meet me with your parents or guardians in the transfiguration classroom in five minutes please?"

_Okay, so this proves that the incident with Ajax and Umbridge last chapter was just a random fluke, and everything's back to normal…as normal as Ajax gets, anyway._

_Answers to Readers:_

_Master of the Blood Woooolves: What about your eyes? Too much toadying, eh, maybe, but it worked…mostly. The Twins helped, which is why Umbitch even fell for it, she's had a mild confundus in her pumpkin juice thanks to the Terrible Two. I wonder if they should show up on Atlantis?_


	14. Chapter 14

"What is the cure you can offer me?" Trelawney asked dreamily.

Ajax shook his head in anger over the damage Albus had done, then said, "I called in a favor with the Fairy Queen. She gave me this." He held up a vial full of golden liquid. "She assured me that it would destroy any harmful magic working upon your person."

Sybil made as if to reach for it, but Ajax held it away. "I know what this potion is, Sybil. It will turn your body into a tree, you will be recast as a wood nymph, immortal unless your tree is cut down. If you sow the seeds from your tree, then whoever tries to kill you will need to cut down a great many trees all around the world."

"I see." Sybil said.

"What I met the avatar of Hogwarts, I obtained some hair, so that I could add it to a loyalty potion, making it keyed to Hogwarts itself. You would forever see Hogwarts as a dear friend if you took the potion and followed it with this one."

"And is that your condition for the wood nymph potion?" Sybil asked quietly.

"Yes." Ajax admitted. "I looked back through time, you were a good Seer, before Dumbledore used and abused you. You would be an excellent Divination professor."

Sybil nodded then. "I accept your conditions gladly."

Just then the door opened, and the four students Ajax had requested entered the room.

"Ah, good. You're all here. Mr. Potter, seeing as how you were to be emancipated at the age of eleven, and through the debacle last year with the Triwizard Tournament and your trial from driving off Dementors, I am willing to consider you an adult, as your behavior has been in line with how an adult would act. If you wish however, you could have Sirius come through the Floo as your guardian, or have Lady Longbottom here serve as your guardian."

"Okay…" Harry said.

"I would like to offer the four of you a full ride scholarship for the most prestigious education I can think of."

"Really?" Hermione asked. "And just who or what will be teaching us if we go?"

"If you go, you will be taught by two genuine Dragon Riders of old, on the Lost City of Atlantis."

Hermione looked stunned.

"If it helps," Ajax continued, "your guardians would be allowed to come with, and you would have access to several of Merlin's diaries and journals."

"What's the difference between the two?" Harry asked. "Diaries and journals I mean."

"Diaries tell more of the story behind the man, while the journals are closer to cut and dried notes on the various projects he was working on."

Hermione looked like she was about to pass out with this opportunity in front of her.

"_Enervate."_ Ajax said, flicking his wand towards her. She steadied considerably.

"Full ride?" Lady Longbottom asked. "What does that mean?"

Hermione shifted into 'full lecture mode', saying, "A full ride, in terms of a scholarship means that provided we follow a specific set of rules, and keep our grades up, we don't have to pay for any of it."

"You would do that for my grandson?" Lady Longbottom asked, turning to Ajax.

"I would. He is a fine young man, you should be proud of him." Ajax replied sincerely.

She looked shocked and slightly insulted, but remained silent.

Xeno looked at his daughter, who looked back at him, and Ajax got the impression that there was more going on in their eyes than had gone on in some council meetings.

Harry was contemplative, and Hermione seemed to be vibrating with excitement.

It was Daniel Granger who spoke up first. "My daughter seems to be very excited by the prospect of this, and Emma would likely admit that this came at a most welcome time. It's not easy, paying for such a fine school as Hogwarts, but seeing her so happy has been reward enough. I'll let Hermione decide if she wants to take this offer."

The words were barely out of his mouth before Hermione was latched onto her father giving him a bear hug.

"I'll take that as a yes, then?" Ajax asked, amusement tingeing his voice.

"Yes." Hermione said breathlessly.

"I'll go with." Harry said. "I want to get away from Rita Skeeter."

"Atlantis might have some interesting information on crumple-horned snorkacks." Luna said dreamily. "I'll come with."

"Madame Longbottom?" Ajax asked. "I do need to know before we leave this room. Does he stay or does he go?"

"I will accept your gracious offer." Lady Longbottom said at last.

Ajax nodded. "Very well. If I remember correctly, your interests are best suited towards plants, yes?"

Neville nodded.

"I have to talk with someone first, but I think I'll have something incredible for you to see before we leave for Atlantis." Ajax said. So saying, he retreated into the adjoining office, and closed the door. There was the murmuring sound of voice being muffled by the heavy door, then it swung open, and Ajax re-emerged, Sybil Trelawney following a moment later.

"Albus performed a great many obliviations on Sybil, after she gave him prophecies. She is a true seer, regardless of how her class used to be. I called in a favor with the Queen of the Fairies-"

"You met with the Queen of the Fairies?" Luna asked, pen flying across parchment.

"Yes, on three separate occasions. The first was when I miscalculated a jump, and ended up on the bank of Fairy Lake. She needed my help apparently, and when I finished with the task, she told me that she was forever in my debt, blah-blah-blah, all that boring gratitude platitude type stuff. Two weeks ago, I went to the shore of her lake, and told her I needed a favor. After explaining, she agreed to help, and two nights ago, I returned for the third time to retrieve this." Ajax held up the potion flask.

Hermione looked closely at the golden liquid. "How does liquid luck help her?" she asked.

"It's not liquid luck." Ajax replied. "It's a fairy potion, not a human potion. It will have considerably different effects." Ajax tucked the bottle back into his pocket. "The house elves have already packed your gear and it's just been transported been transported aboard the craft we will be using to get to Atlantis, but I understand that some of you need to do things on the home front. Do you want to remain here in Britain, with visits once or twice a month, or do you want to live on Atlantis full time?"

"I have duties that would constrain me from leaving England at this time." Lady Longbottom said. "But I will stay in touch."

"The same goes for us, I'm afraid." Daniel said. "Our dental practice is rather busy right now, we couldn't possibly leave for more than a day or two here and there."

"I understand perfectly." Ajax said. "Mr. Lovegood?"

"All I need to do is lock up the Rookery, and I am ready to go to Atlantis." he said.

"Well then, we'll stop by if you can give me good directions." Ajax said. "Now, if you will please follow me?"

The group came to a stop in the wide open courtyard. It was ringed with paving stones, but the middle was grass. Trelawney came to a stop in the center of the courtyard, looking up at the moon, and she reached her hand towards Ajax.

"Give it to me." she said quietly. For once, she seemed lucid. Ajax silently handed over a potion, this one was clear, rather than gold, and she drank it down without hesitation.

"Seems rather sweet." she said, swallowing.

"Yeah, I couldn't bring myself to make a British potion." Ajax admitted. "I used a French variant."

Sybil nodded once. "And now the other."

Ajax handed over the golden potion, then stepped back. "Watch." he whispered to Neville.

Sybil drank the potion, and for one long anti-climactic moment, nothing happened.

The moment passed, and Ajax noticed that Sybil's hair was floating up, as if the tips of her hair were being picked up by some unseen force. Her feet, which were bare, forked and buried themselves in the ground as Sybil laughed, feeling happier than she had in a very long time. The changes began happening more rapidly, as her hair turned to branches, which sprouted leaves as her body turned to wood. Seeds fell from the tree, followed by the leaves as the tree sped through the seasonal cycle, from spring to winter, in the span of a few seconds.

"A bay tree." Ajax said, gathering up the seeds, and storing them safely before straightening up again. "Appropriate."

"What did you do to her?" Emma Granger asked in awe.

"I did nothing." Ajax said. "All I did was hand her the potion, she drank it. She is a wood sprite now, and the harmful magic that Albus laid over her mind is gone, permanently. She is immortal, provided one of her trees is alive. She will be a good Divination teacher again. Believe me what I say she knew what she was doing, and that she accepted it willingly."

"It's just so…strange." Emma replied.

"Welcome to fairy magic." Ajax laughed. "It's synonymous with change."

"It's beautiful." Luna whispered.

A moment later, Trelawney stepped out of her tree, looking positively radiant. "Thank you." she said, tears of joy and relief flowing down her face. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome." Ajax said. "I have several seeds of yours, I'll leave one at the site of the Oracle in Delphi for you."

"I knew you had my seeds." Sybil said, fixing him with a look. "I can sense them, even now."

"Well then, where to now?" Ajax asked, turning to the group.

"We need to return home." The Gangers said.

"Alright." Ajax said. "Regular technology doesn't seem to work quite right here, so I'm using something a little more low-tech. Everyone gather together, now." Ajax pulled a flare out of his pocket, and lit it up. For several seconds, nothing happened at the group blinked in the glare caused by the green flare. Suddenly, the world turned white briefly, and they found themselves in a massive steel-grey room.

Ajax opened the hanger doors and threw the flare out in such a way that it would hit the atmosphere and burn up.

"Welcome to the _Phoenix_." Ajax stated. "For those of you who aren't going to Atlantis, we will have you sent to coordinates of your choosing, and the rest of us will continue on to Atlantis. I just wanted everyone to get a chance to see Atlantis from space."

So saying, Ajax picked up a pair of binoculars that had been resting on the door control console, and handed them to Daniel Granger.

"Right over there, sir." Ajax said, pointing to Atlantis.

"Amazing." he breathed.

"You should visit sometime." Ajax chuckled. "She was the capital of the Alterran empire, such as it was. When they fled this galaxy, they simply flew the ship to the Pegasus galaxy and set it down there."

"It flies?" Emma asked, peering through the binoculars.

"She can. She prefers not to make a habit of it, but yes, she can fly through the atmosphere, enter space, and access hyperspace. She's also got an onboard Stargate in the secondary command center."

Lady Longbottom squinted through the binoculars, moving about for several seconds before she found it. "Simply amazing." she said, handing the device back to Ajax. "The things Muggles come up with in the absence of magic."

"That city is magic and technology working together in perfect harmony." Ajax said seriously, accepting the binoculars. "I suspect the Alterrans were technomancers."

"Necromancers?" Daniel asked. "Hermione won't be going there after all. Sorry sweetie." he said to Hermione. She looked ready to cry.

"_Techno_mancy is different from _necro_mancy. The only similarity is that the two branches of magic end in the -mancy suffix. There is nothing to do with the dead here." Ajax explained, attempting to avert disaster.

"Oh. I take it back then." Mr. Granger said.

"Right. Well, I need to get some coordinates plugged in so you can get back to your homes." Ajax said, closing the massive bay doors. "This way."

The group walked to the bridge, where Amaranth was seated in the central chair, and the holographic representation of the entity in the ship was seated at tactical.

"Coordinates?" she asked, looking up at the group.

"In a few moments." Ajax replied, guiding the group to the map table in the back. "I've upgraded the sensors using Alterran technology, so I can see through the wards that hide your homes from Muggles. There are Muggles who know about your homes, but there aren't many in the know, due to the Stargate Program being secret. Elizabeth Wier, the civilian administrator on Atlantis, knows about magic, John Sheppard, the ranking military officer on Atlantis also knows about magic, and of course Eragon and I know about magic. Eragon is currently playing the part of the magical administrator on Atlantis, though that may change when Atlantis returns to the Pegasus galaxy. While you are on Atlantis, you will answer to Eragon, or for those here who don't have magic, Dr. Wier."

The group nodded their understanding while Ajax brought up the maps for Britain. "Alright, Lady Longbottom, where is your home located?"

It took several moments, but eventually, she found the place, and Ajax rattled off the coordinates to Phoenix, who promptly deposited Lady Longbottom directly outside the wards of Longbottom Manor.

Shortly thereafter, Xeno and Luna Lovegood were standing outside the wards to the Rookery, and Ajax was a bit further away.

Several minutes later, they came back out of the rook-shaped house, and Ajax lit his wand with green before holding it aloft. A moment later, he cut the light, not wanting to interfere with the mundane systems of the _Phoenix._ A white flash of light engulfed the three, and they were on the bridge once again. The Grangers had found their home rather easily, being more familiar with mundane equipment, and Harry had managed to bring Sirus Black aboard the _Phoenix._

"So," Ajax said, looking at a display. "Are we all ready to go to Atlantis?"

"I should think so." Hermione said.

"Great." Ajax said, turning towards them with a grin. "We aren't transporting down."

"We aren't?" Neville asked. "How are we getting to Atlantis then?"

Ajax threw a look to Phoenix, who shrugged and looked back as if to say 'your call'.

"Well, we could take the ship down to Atlantis, or we could take a Jumper." Ajax said. "But since I doubt anyone would be very happy to endure the shaking and rattling associated with re-entry of a large craft into the atmosphere, we'll be taking the Jumpers. Thrill seekers with me, quiet, safe people with Amaranth." Ajax grinned and walked off the bridge, saying "Look out below, cause here we go."

"I'm going with him, pup." Sirius said, grinning.

"Me too." Harry replied, looking at his godfather.

"I guess I should go as well." Neville said, looking resigned to his fate.

"You don't have to go with him." Amaranth said. "The Jumpers are more than large enough for everyone here and their things."

Neville looked relived as the group made their way to the 302 bay.

Eventually, Hermione spoke up. "Aren't we going the wrong way? We followed a green line when we came aboard, now we're following a red one."

"We're heading in the right direction." Amaranth assured her. "The colored lines are the difference between the port and starboard 302 bays. The port bay holds all the small craft carried aboard this ship, while the starboard bay is kept empty for use as a large gym or for new arrivals. If someone coming aboard becomes violent, it is best that they not be on the bridge or in the Engineering section where they could destroy vital systems. If we were on the ground, it wouldn't be life-threatening, even if they completely destroyed the life-support systems. Here in the blackness of space, we take things like air and radiation shields a bit more seriously."

"Oh." Hermione said. "That makes sense. What are the pipes for?"

"Coolant." Amaranth replied. "Most of this deck is dedicated to coolant and system access points. Engineering is in the aft section on this deck."

She swiped her keycard, and the lock buzzed before clicking. Amaranth pulled the heavy door open, exposing the sealed shaft that lead from the ship to the semi-detached 302 bay.

Each 302 bay was held to the rest of the ship by three or four major struts that could be detached by means of explosive bolts if needed, and one of the struts was built on a massive scale so it could double as a walkway to the bay. At the other end of the tubular walkway, Ajax was ranting and raving at the door which had refused to open because Amaranth had opened her end just before he had.

The shipside door closed, and Ajax tried the door again, getting a positive result this time.

Twelve 302s gleamed in the lights of the hangar, and the group wondered if expansion charms had been applied to them. There were four craft, different from the 302s, lined up on glowing pads against the far wall. They were grey, and roughly the size of a minivan. Odd hexagonal panels were arrayed on the hull of the strange craft, and the doors were open, ready and waiting for someone to enter and fly.

Ajax, Sirius and Harry entered the first craft, though Harry and Sirius were a bit apprehensive due to the sounds the strange craft kept making as the lights powered up.

Ajax sat down in the pilot's seat, and laid his hands on the control panel. It lit up with a burbling sound, and then the whine of a motor filled the Jumper as the door closed.

"Alright, everyone strapped in? Here we go!" Ajax said, pulling back slightly on the flight stick.

The Jumper lifted off, and Ajax carefully directed it to the back of the bay while Amaranth closed the door on her Jumper. A few seconds later, the door opened, and Ajax moved the throttle up to full.

Inertial dampers were on just enough to ensure that the passengers wouldn't be turned to goo by the twists and turns Ajax was likely to pull, but off enough to ensure that everyone fell the movement of the craft. Ajax rolled left, then right before moving to a point almost directly above Atlantis and putting the craft into a straight dive.

Amaranth was directly behind him, but had the dampers all the way up. To her passengers, it was if the scenery was simply changing around them.

As the water came up towards them at high speed, Sirius began to look a little worried, while Harry seemed to clutch his seat a bit tighter. Ajax pulled up, and dropped the throttle to a low speed before taking his hands off the controls. He pulled the radio out of a small storage compartment and clicked it on.

"Ajax to Atlantis, Jumpers Five and Six are glad to be back home." he said.

"Glad to have you back." a female voice responded. "We missed having you around to help fix things."

Ajax landed the Jumper without incident, and the group waited for Amaranth to power down her Jumper.

"Welcome to Atlantis." Ajax said. I am one of the two Dragon Riders I spoke of earlier when I told you about Atlantis, and I will be covering defensive magic and runes while Eragon will be handling the physical education part, as well as offensive magic. You will probably learn how to use a sword, but you'll never have a hope in hell of beating him. He's part Elf, and I'm not talking about House Elves. Remember that while the Secrecy doesn't apply here, as everyone has the highest security clearance available, magic can still give the mundane technology serious issues."

"I thought you said that magic and technology work in harmony here." Hermione said, looking a little disappointed.

Ajax winced slightly. "Well, not _all_ technology is native to the city. We have 'modern' laptops, wireless sets, servers…we have our own little internet here, thanks to all the wireless technology. One of our science guys went and cooked up a cool little internet application that works with Alterran technology and mundane technology, but my point is that there _are_ mundane pieces of equipment that can be fried by magic, so try to keep your magic off of the mundane tech. We're still working on shielding for that, and it hasn't been implemented fully yet."

"Right." Harry replied, seeming to be the least awed of the group.

"Well, let me show you to your rooms, I'm sure that you are all ready for bed, despite the uh, slight time difference going on here." Ajax said. "I'm just about ready to turn in."

The group entered a hallway with several doors in it, and stopped at one saying "This section of the city has been devoted to magic users, for the simple reason that we don't have much tech shielding just yet, so we're trying to keep equipment failure to a minimum. This door is my room, every room in this hall is empty, so take your choice. I'm going to bed."

So saying he wiped his hand over the crystal, and entered the room, the door groaning closed behind him_._


	15. Chapter 15

After everyone had selected a room, Hermione was talking with Harry in her room, since they thought it would be a good idea to adjust to the new time zone. They talked about many things, and when Harry finally decided to go to bed, Hermione gave him a quick peck on the lips.

Harry was surprised, but returned the kiss, deepening it to a full, toe-curling kiss. They were so caught up in the kiss that neither of them noticed the golden glow that enveloped them, nor did they notice the shockwave of energy that flowed out from them.

Harry reluctantly broke the kiss, and went to go to his room. Angel was standing outside the door, with a joyful expression on her face.

"Congratulations." she said, when the door opened.

"What?" Harry asked.

Angel gave him a look, then shoved him into the room, where he fell into a sitting position on the bed with a surprised squawk.

"Congratulations." she said again. "You two have a blessed relationship, known as a merge. I believe the term has changed over the years, so maybe you would understand a bit better if I said soul-bond rather than merge. Similar to the Dragon Riders, like Eragon and Ajax, your souls are welded together at the base level."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, butting in. "I know what welding is, have been Muggleborn, but I've never heard of souls being welded together."

"This is going to be complicated, and you really need your sleep, at the same time, you really need to know what this is all about…" Angel said, thinking hard. "Come with me."

She waved her hand at the stuff that Hermione had pulled out of her trunk, and it packed itself away before the lid closed and locked, then the trunk rose up in the air, following Angel out of the room.

Mystified, Harry and Hermione followed.

Angel paused for a moment to collect Harry's things, and his trunk floated directly behind Hermione's trunk as Angel continued down the hall.

"Simply put," Angel said, stopping in front of a door. "you two are married, and nobody can break that up. It is considered criminal to try, and you have the authority to defend your bond in anyway you see fit, including killing the unfortunate sod who tries to break you apart."

The door opened, and the married couple could see that the room was easily twice as big as the bedrooms that had just been vacated, and though there was only one bed, it was more than large enough for the both of them.

"Now, you two, get ready for bed, I'll be back in a moment." Angel said, authority clear in her voice.

They did as instructed, and Angel reentered the room.

"You will be told everything while you are in the dream state." Angel said, looking at the two seriously. "You will probably wake up at eight thirty, local time. Now, go see Amanda."

The last thing either of them said before succumbing to sleep was the flash of a wand.

They awoke with a start in a white space. They quickly figured out that being naked was easily solved by thinking about clothes, which suddenly appeared on the floor nearby.

Their thoughts turned to this 'Amanda' Angel had mentioned, and a door opened, admitting a rather drunk woman in her thirties.

The blank whiteness shifted to show a large field full of flowers, and the giggling woman plopped herself down on the ground a few feet away.

"There's no need to stand on ceremony around *hic* here." she giggled. "My name is Ama- *hic* nda. *hic*"

The two sat, and frowned slightly. "What's going on?" they asked, nearly in stereo.

This set off a round of giggles and hiccups from Amanda and Harry, sensing the room was similar to the Room of Requirement, asked for a hangover curing potion.

A vial of dark purple fluid appeared, and Harry held it out towards Amanda. "Could you drink that and then tell us what's going on here?"

Amanda drank it, frowning slightly at the taste. "British, aren't you? The French and Italians make better potions, especially the French." She did a double take. "Hey, you two are the trouble couple!"

"Trouble couple?" Hermione asked carefully.

"You two should have hooked up by the end of your second year in Hogwarts! Can you _imagine_ the number of times I've tried to put you two together, AS WAS DESTINED, and you two kept thwarting it?"

Harry exchanged a worried look with Hermione, who's expression mirrored his own.

"Uh, no?" he asked weakly. "To start over, who are you? I know your name is Amanda, but who are you?"

"I'm the one who deals with love." she said. "Damned bards. Amanda is too plain-sounding, they said. Venus sounds romantic, they said. Aphrodite sounds better, they said. We can't use the name Amanda in our epics, they said. I am the goddess of love."

Harry and Hermione started to rise to better pay their respects, and her eyes flashed. "What did I _just_ say about not standing on ceremony around here?" she asked.

They sank back down to the grass. "Sorry, we weren't sure if you meant that earlier." Hermione said.

"You were rather drunk." Harry clarified.

Amanda grimaced. "I know, I can still taste that potion. Really, next time you give someone a hangover cure, use a French potion. In fact, just use French potions regardless. They taste better."

"So, why are we here?" Hermione asked, wanting to get back on track.

"I'm supposed to tell you what having this soul-bond entails." Amanda said. "If I were the vengeful type, I wouldn't bother to fill you in on what you should know, and just let you work it out yourselves, after the trouble you've put me through. I'm not vengeful though, so I'll be nice and I'll tell you.

You are bonded to each other, for life. 'Until death do us part' as they say, except that if one of you dies, the other will die within five minutes, so there isn't really much parting going on when Death comes calling. You will be able to hear each other's thoughts, feel each other's emotions, if you get good enough, you'll even be able to utilize each other's senses. You will be stronger than you would have been by yourself, healing is considerably sped up when in contact with each other, your magic will even recharge faster. That's all the explanation I've got for you, and now we have one more thing to attend to."

"Which is?" Harry asked, worriedly.

The door opened, and another person entered, a man this time, and he carried a Reaper's scythe with him.

"Is that…Death?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, don't worry, Bill's a nice guy, when you get to know him."

"Hello Harry." Bill said, extending an arm to help him up. "Please walk with me."

Harry accepted the arm up, and the two walked for a bit.

"My sister Destiny, also known as Fate, decreed that you will be the one to slay Tom Riddle." Bill said quietly. "He has broken several laws that govern my realm, sent thousands to their death before their time, and broken his soul into pieces, called Horcruxes. These abominations must be dealt with before you can kill him. He's already attempted to kill you twice before, and you managed to survive both times. What I am about to tell you will shift your world somewhat." Bill warned.

"I can take it." Harry said confidently.

"Yes, you probably can." Bill mused. "Very well. Your mother died trying to protect you, but it was not because of her that you survived the Killing curse. I was there that night to pick up your father, who had just died, and I saw that idiot, Voldemort," Bill spat the name as if it was unclean. "getting ready to kill you. He killed your mother, who's sacrifice was enough to ensure that you would survive anything that wasn't an Unforgivable. He sent the killing curse, and I cut the lighting bolt rune on your forehead with my reaper's blade. Your mother screamed out when she saw the green light speeding towards you, even more so when I cut that mark into your forehead, and then when the green light deflected back, her terror turned to joy as she realized that you would survive. I had made a mistake though, not realizing that a portion of his soul would enter you. When I learned of my agent's intention to go to Hogwarts, I instructed him in the tenuous laws of magic that deal with Horcruxes, so that he would be able to identify and destroy them, without the destruction of the container. My agent, Ajax, has been tasked with helping you find and destroy the containers so that you can destroy Riddle once and for all. He will give you access to everything he has access to in order to help you with this, all you need is to ask. I would like to sincerely apologize for you having Riddle's soul in your forehead all these years, and as a corporeal sign of my deep regrets, I will give you anything you ask for, so long as it is within my power to do so."

"I accept your apology." Harry said slowly. "I'd like to have my parents back, sir." Harry added quickly. "For the longest time, that's the thing I've wanted the most, but knew I could never have."

"Then you shall have it." Bill said. "Thankfully, that is one of the easiest things I can give you. They will arrive on Atlantis sometime in the afternoon, at the same age that they were when Riddle ended their lives prematurely."

"What did you spit the name Voldemort like it was disgusting?" Harry asked.

"Because it means Death Thief. He's stealing from me by obtaining immortality in the way that he has, and he knows it."

"Are there ways to become immortal in ways that you approve of, sir?" Harry asked quietly.

"The Philosopher's Stone, becoming a Dragon Rider or becoming one of my agents." Death replied dismissively. "Why, are you that uncomfortable with the idea of dying? I promise not to take you before your time."

"It was purely academic in nature." Harry replied. "I know that dying is a natural part in the cycle of life. How did Flamel get the Philosopher's Stone, anyway?"

"He made most of it, but the complete Stone is made only with my blessing, or by an incredible amount of human sacrifices." Bill said. "Alchemists tend to use the second way, and are usually stopped by their scruples, but I had taken a liking to Flamel, we used to play chess and discuss philosophy once or twice a week. He actually was supremely uncomfortable with the idea of dying, and so I gave him the final part of the Stone. He and his wife are fun to play against, and they've been engaged in research for the good of the human race, so I don't regret it one bit." Bill looked at his watch. "I must be going, but it was enjoyable, speaking with you. I hope we will meet again sometime, but until then, 'have a nice day'!"

The door opened, and Bill exited, merrily swinging his scythe and whistling a cheerful tune.

"That's not creepy at all." Hermione said, giving voice to Harry's exact thoughts on the subject.

"Yep." Harry replied, watching the door close and melt into the landscape. "Not creepy at all. Now if he had his Reaper's clothes on at the time…"

The two dissolved into a fit of giggles, prompting Amanda to join them to see what was going on.

"You two have spent long enough here." she declared. "Go wake up, live life…do me proud, I did craft your match personally, you know." The last part was added in a whisper, but they heard her perfectly.

They awoke at exactly eight in the morning.

Ajax did not spend his night as pleasantly, arising at three in the morning, drenched in a cold sweat.

_Arrows of light whizzed past Ajax, going in either direction. Occasionally, one would land near his feet, and a rock would explode, or a deep gash would be carved into the dirt. A green light flew past, buzzing with malevolence. Ajax took the time to dodge it when the entire scene seemed to freeze._

"_Cosmic 'stop' button on the VCR?" Ajax mused._

"_As if." grumbled a voice._

_Ajax turned to see Death, dressed in the uniform of his office. The scythe was lying on the ground nearby._

"_I never wanted this to happen. People used to look forward to meeting me." he said. "Of course, with all the painful ways that seem to crop up every other day, maybe it's no wonder. I'm rambling. This." he waved his arm over the battlefield strewn with curse victims. "This wasn't supposed to be. All because 'Lord Death Thief' has gone stark raving nuts."_

_Death drew a long, deep sigh as he knelt to examine the remains of a child. She could not have been more than six years old, still clutching her precious teddy bear, even in the cold embrace of death. Her face was contorted with the enormous pain she had felt before passing, and Ajax silently snarled as he beheld the body. There were small cuts everywhere, several bones looked broken, and the two could almost smell the signature of the Cruciatus still strong on her._

"_Fix it, Ajax. Destiny said that Harry Potter was the only one who can slay Voldemort, but she never said anything about not helping him. You have resources, use them to your advantage. Help him destroy the buffoon who has created this suffering. The file is on your bedside table, go leave a mark on the world."_

Those words had flung Ajax out of the dream state and back to reality. He saw the black folder stamped with the head of a jackal as depicted by the Egyptians, and opened it with a heavy sigh, as the lights brightened to allow him to read. The air turned blue a moment later.

Five minutes after eight o'clock, Ajax gathered the group of people that had come in from Britain the previous night, and guided them to the mess hall.

"This is where we eat." Ajax said, waving in the general direction of the mess. "I know you're used to a Great Hall, where everybody eats all at once, but Atlantis is so large that we have five different places designated for the consumption of food, though you can take stuff back to your room if you wish.

Sheppard, Eragon and Dr. Wier will be joining us for breakfast, so you can get to know the leadership of the city. I recommend you get your food from the buffet tables, once the Big Three get here, the meeting will commence."

So saying, Ajax waited for the group to get their breakfast before grabbing his and sitting down at the large table that had been reserved for the meeting.

"Welcome to Atlantis." Dr. Wier said, upon sitting down with her tray. "I'm sorry I couldn't greet you personally last night, as I was involved in a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff when you came in. I am Doctor Elizabeth Wier, and I handle the paperwork, responsibility and general problems that come with leading the civilians here on Atlantis. My second-in-command, Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard," Sheppard waved slightly and grinned. "takes care of the leadership of the military personnel, and Eragon here is the acknowledged leadership of the magical community." Eragon nodded slightly when Wier called his name. "Now that you know who were are, and what we do, who are you?"

Harry and Hermione exchanged a look that meant just a touch of mischief. "I'm Harry Potter, and as near as I can figure out, it's my job to kill a Dark Lord living in Britain. I'm currently a student, learning everything I can about magic, particularly anything I can use against Voldemort."

The leadership trio exchanged a worried look at this, surely one so young could not be saddled with such a fearsome responsibility?

"I am Hermione Potter, and I am here to learn magic and support my husband where he needs it most." Hermione said, smiling.

"Congratulations, pup!" Sirius exclaimed. "I knew you two were right for each other!"

"Are you serious?" Neville asked, looking at Hermione.

"Nope, I'm Hermione." the witch replied. She pointed to where Sirius was sitting. "He's Sirius."

"Well, the cat's out of the bag." Sirius said, smiling. "I am Sirius Black, Harry's dogfather."

"Did you say 'dogfather'?" Dr. Wier asked, smiling uncertainly.

"It's a play on my animagus form. I can turn into a Grim at a moment's notice. It's a really big dog, so instead of saying godfather, we say dogfather." Sirius explained.

"I'm Xeno Lovegood, and I am the Editor-in-Chief for The Quibbler, though I've suspended operations for the time being. I am Luna's father."

"I'm Luna Lovegood," Luna began dreamily. "and I'm here to learn magic, and hopefully find some information on Crumple-Horned Snorkacks."

Dr. Wier's eyes flicked to where Ajax was sitting quietly, and he minutely shook his head. She nodded in understanding.

"I'm Neville Longbottom, and I specialize in Herbology, I hope to get my Mastery someday. I'm here because Ajax offered a full ride scholarship, and Hogwarts wasn't really as good as it could have been." Neville said nervously.

"Rule Number One." Ajax said, entering the conversation. "The three people here are the ruling powers on the city. They may take their orders from someone outside the city, but within the city, it's their domain.

Rule Number Two, if any one of them gives you an order, you follow it. Rule Three states that if two people give you orders and one set conflicts with the other, you follow the one that came from your 'department' so to speak. For you guys, Eragon's orders will supersede Dr. Wier's orders, or Sheppard's orders, any day of the week."

"Ajax?" Eragon asked politely.

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

Ajax just shrugged in response and resumed eating.

The conversation was nothing new for Ajax, as it was the typical 'Welcome to Atlantis, these are the names and faces of our leadership, follow theses rules, here's a map, here's a radio, and this is how you use it.' type speech.

Once the group was issued radios and had their maps in hand, Ajax tuned in again just in time to hear Eragon appointing Ajax as the group guide. Ajax smirked, knowing that Eragon would be teaching them about magic use and the ancient language, history of the Riders, and the art of swordsmanship.

Ajax would be teaching them about the mental arts, and bringing them up to speed in regular physical education. He would also be educating them in venturing off-world and dealing with alien threats. Several of the young Jaffa warriors in training under Bratac and the rest of the Free Jaffa Nation had agreed to participate in pitched Intar combat, and as SG-1 had confiscated several Intar in the form of Tau'ri weapons, SG teams would be able to go off-world for training missions using the Intar so that they didn't have to worry about killing their Jaffa friends.

The meeting broke up, and Ajax showed them how to dispose of their dirty dishes, and Ajax began heading back to the rooms where they had slept.

_Alright, we've got another chapter done, mostly filler again, but I'll take what I can get. This chapter was brought to you by The Uncomfortable Backmost Seat of the Van Industries, and sponsored by My-Leg-Lost-Circulation Publishing House. Creative talent was provided by What's the Weird Taste in my Cup Inc., and the plotline was provided by Just-Go-With-The-Fucking-Flow-Already! Technologies. I'm your host, Hideout Writer, and despite the fact that the Dementors of Azkaban give every prisoner a double exposure every time someone says this, This is fan fiction, and none of it is owned by me. Leave a review!_

_Master of the Blood Wolves: Yes, I could have, but What's the Weird Taste in my Cup didn't cooperate on that count. This is probably more of the same._


	16. Chapter 16

"Harry, Hermione, I need to speak with you two alone." Ajax said seriously.

"I trust the others that came with us." Harry said.

"Don't care." Ajax replied. "This is for your eyes and ears first at minimum. If you choose to share what you learn, that's up to you; this information goes to you first, and others later, if you think they should know. I understand that there are some things that are…not often spoken of that could incite panic."

"Fine." Harry said resignedly.

"Horcruxes." Ajax said, once the door closed. "Soul fragments broken off from the original soul and secreted away into an object that has some sort of significance to that person. They are irrefutably evil. Not simply dark, evil. The person can fracture their soul by taking the life of an innocent person, which then allows them to place a fragment into the container that becomes the Horcrux. I know I told you a bit about it earlier, when I took out that Volde-shard that had been plugged into your core, but I had no idea just how _completely_ evil it was." Ajax picked up the black file sitting on his desk, and gave the release password. "Here, read this. This is a dossier on Voldemort put together by Death himself…there is no more accurate file available on Riddle than this one."

Harry accepted the heavy file and sat down on the bed before opening it. He looked more and more sick as he read, and Hermione didn't look much better.

"What do you want me to do about this?" Harry rasped out at last. Hermione had dissolved into tears, while only Harry's training with the Dursley's allowed him to hold the tears at bay.

"I want you to kill him." Ajax replied, his voice devoid of any emotion at all. He whirled to face the two, and Harry noticed that there was a cold, nearly emotionless scowl carved on Ajax's face. "I've been tasked with assisting you in the destruction of Riddle, and am placing such resources as I have at your disposal. This means the _Phoenix_ and my own considerable skills with magic and swordsmanship. Before we can do any of that though, we need to get you up to speed, physically, mentally and magically. I will be putting you through an exercise regimen, and I will be teaching you how to shoot, and I will be training your mind to protect it against invaders, as well as teaching you how to invade someone's mind, without the use of the Legilimens spell. It will be hard. It will suck, it will be painful. I've been given my job, and now you have yours."

Ajax fell silent, giving Harry and Hermione a chance to think about it and ask questions.

"I guess you want my oath of secrecy?" Harry asked resignedly. Beside him, Hermione sniffled quietly, and Harry's hand strayed to the small of her back as he attempted to comfort her.

"No." Ajax replied flatly. "Tell the others, don't tell the others, I told you before, I don't care. Your friends may appreciate knowing what they are up against though, you will need more than just me to get through this." Ajax opened the door again, and Amaranth swooped down from her perch in the room, landing on Ajax's shoulders. The young Rider staggered slightly under the weight before recovering and leaving the room.

Harry, still carrying the black file left the room a moment later, followed by Hermione.

"What did you talk about, pup?" Sirius said. "You look a little down."

"Read this and you'll know why." Harry replied. "That is a dossier on Voldemort."

That got Sirius' attention, and he accepted the file, opening it up to read.

Ajax started walking down the hall, grinning broadly. It was always fun, being nearby when someone tried to read the file without have received Ajax's express permission.

Sirius started laughing, small chuckles at first, but quickly developing into a full-blown belly laugh. After he recovered enough, he closed the file saying "I don't know what to say. I've never considered the idea of Luna and I hooking up. I like the style of whoever set that security charm, they're worthy of the Marauders."

"Sorry about that." Ajax called out innocently from the front of the group. "The security charms on the file make it look like an explicit graphic novel involving whoever is reading the file, and the person of their dreams, unless there are others around. Did you like it?"

"You set that up!" Sirius exclaimed.

"No." Ajax said. "Bill did that."

"Bill?" Hermione asked. "I thought he was a curse breaker for Gringott's."

"Bill, also known as Death, the founder of Death Incorporated, the corporation for which I work as a field agent. Death wanted to retire, so he's been taking on agents and helping them out by refusing to take them when they should by all rights be dead. Instead of dying, the agent just heals right up, and they're back in the fight. We also get incredibly accurate intelligence on our targets, so, there's that."

"Targets? Are you like hit wizards or something?" Hermione asked.

Ajax could almost hear the pen flying over paper. "Or something. Our targets have one thing in common: they have committed crimes against Death, and we take them out."

"Crimes against death?" Neville asked quietly.

"Yeah, using what Death called illegal methods to make themselves immortal, among other things." Ajax replied.

"So is Flamel a target?" Neville asked. "He's got the Philosopher's Stone, which grants it's user immortality."

"No, he's not going to be a target. One, he's a peaceful man. He hasn't killed people to stay alive, and has no intentions towards ruling the world. He's probably one of the more powerful wizards out there, certainly stronger than Dumbledore, but he hasn't used that power to wantonly destroy. Two, Death helped him complete the Stone. It is safe to say that if Death didn't want him to have the Stone, Flamel wouldn't have it." Ajax explained. "There _are_ approved methods of obtaining immortality, it's just that very few actually find it. Besides, that's not all I do. Mostly I work with helping lost souls to cross over after death. I've even helped a few ghosts like you have at Hogwarts, the kind of ghosts that have been there for several decades if not centuries."

The group stopped near the weapons range. "Here you can fire off any weapons you like, without worries of hurting anything. We have guns, we have a few compound bows, we have more guns, ammunition, paper targets and a special backstop if you need to practice your aim with a wand. Included in the training you will receive from Eragon and I is shooting with the weapons here. If you are in a magical dead-zone, where you can't fire off a single spell, having a P-90 or something could save your life. Moving on."

Ajax walked briskly to a door leading outside, before stopping to let the group get together again. "We will be running, sparring and swimming out here." Ajax said. "Aragon and I cast several warming charms on a certain section, so that the water is a balmy seventy-five degrees, the rest is considerably colder. We will start in the warm water to get you used to swimming, later we will go over to the cold water to get you at least proficient if not comfortable in freezing water."

"You're going to torture us, aren't you?" Harry asked good-naturedly.

"And have fun doing so." Ajax replied, equally lightly. "I had learned early on in my training that my physical strength affects the strength of my spells. Thus, the stronger I am, the stronger my manipulations of reality. This is true to a lesser degree of your magic. You have a great deal of it 'on tap', but physical strength can't be detrimental. Besides, if you ever decide you need to go undercover, without magic, being strong will help."

"How do you cope against large armies of enemy magic users?" Hermione asked. "Even if what you say is true, physical strength would only go so far. I'm certain that you probably went up against an enemy army at some point with your assassinations."

Ajax flinched as he turned back towards Hermione. "I guess that makes your husband a destined assassin then, right?" he asked coldly. "I do not assassinate. I eliminate people who oppress innocent people that don't have the ability to deal with it themselves. Do not associate me with vulgar hitmen! Hitmen take targets for hire, with no compunction for right and wrong, so long as they get paid. I do not. Now that you know, I _expect_ you to not make that _particular_ mistake again. Have I made myself clear?"

"Don't threaten her!" Harry said, moving in front of Hermione, wand out and raised.

Ajax cocked his eyebrow at that. "I'm not threatening your wife." he said calmly. "Are you threatening me?"

Harry seemed to shrink back slightly. "No." he said, defiantly.

"Good." Ajax replied. "Then please return your focus to it's proper place."

Harry seemed to think about it for several seconds, then finally, begrudgingly, returned it to his pocket.

"Thank you." Ajax said. "Yes, I have engaged full armies on occasion. I turned the air to poison around them. A colorless, odorless nerve agent that functions simply as sleeping gas, I believe it was. Of course, the guy I was supposed to take out went and fled from me after that, leading to a chase that ran nearly six days before I slew him."

Ajax entered a room that was entirely black with yellow lines at regular intervals spanning the width and length of the room.

"Computer, create a green circle on the floor in one corner." Ajax said, briefly. "Create a small table, with a rack suited for batons."

The room made an odd hissing noise as it filled the requests.

"Welcome to our variation on the Room of Requirement." Ajax said. "I want a full-on brawl. That means muggle style fighting, magic, even swordsmanship, all in one glorious fray. Since everyone seems to look to you as their de facto leader, Harry, you will be leading your friends against me and Amaranth. Good luck. Computer! Create Jungle Scenario seven, and maintain the green zone previously outlined."

Suddenly, the group was standing in a large jungle. "The green zone is safe, but I expect you to not stay there for long, say, just long enough to put your wand down in a safe place? Begin."

With that, Ajax disappeared, and Harry exchanged a look with Hermione.

A moment later, a jet of green light drilled through the foliage towards the group, and they instinctively scattered. "That was a shield-breaking hex." Hermione said, confused. "We didn't have shields up, so…"

"Fear tactics." Harry stated. "At first glance, it looked like the Killing curse. Split up, disillusion yourselves, and let's get him."

As he was speaking, three red lights sailed over his shoulder to impact on a tree, causing it to fall towards Harry. His eyes widened, and he dove out of the way just in time for the tree to crash into the space he had just been occupying.

Hermione put up a basic shield charm to block the splinters, and looked at Harry. "He knows his stuff." she said. "I wouldn't have thought to put three _reducto_s into a tree like that. It's almost like he's…_toying_ with us."

"Quite right, Ma'am." said a voice. "I'm evaluating your abilities in a more or less realistic simulation. Incoming."

The pair had not tracked down the source of the voice, and Hermione threw up a rather strong shield charm, which Harry then overlapped with his own before taking Hermione's free hand into his own. Both shields intensified just a the red light of a rather strong _stupefy_ impacted them before fading.

Harry dropped his shield a moment later, firing off several stunners as soon as he was clear of Hermione's shield. A light blue glob of light arced from behind, striking Harry in the back, and he staggered for a moment, trying hard to maintain his balance. Neville and Lune, hearing the spellfire being exchanged, hurried to Harry's position, where they placed shields around Harry.

Three more globs of the blue energy impacted on the shields, and Neville nearly dropped his shields from the sheer power. Ajax stepped out of the underbrush, bearing an odd device. It resembled a spear, but was incredibly thick, and had a yellow glowing substance in the center, with windows on the side to see through. He raised the device, and another glob of blue energy flew towards the group.

Hermione dropped her shield as the blast dissipated on Luna's shield, and fired six stunners in rapid succession towards Ajax.

Ajax smirked then, and twisted the weapon so that it caught all six stunners. The glowing fluid inside it dimmed, and when Ajax attempted to fire again, it shot an incredibly weakened burst of energy. Neville intercepted it with ease while Hermione cast _enervate_ on Harry. He steadied considerably, and Ajax's eyes narrowed. He threw the weapon aside and fired several shield drilling hexes at the group before twisting slightly, disappearing with a deafening crack. He quietly reappeared in the middle of the group, and silently stunned them.

"Computer, end simulation." Ajax said. The room returned to it's previous black with yellow grid layout, and Ajax woke the group.

"That was far too easy. We will try again tomorrow, in the meantime, Sheppard is going to teach you about firearms. I have something I need to deal with elsewhere."

In the Gate Room, the black void that seemed to have attached itself to the gate faded away after an imposing figure strode through.

"Where is Ajax?" the being asked.

"Right here, sir." Ajax panted, a door closing behind him. "I was just in a battle simulation with the destined one."

"How unfortunate for him." the figure noted.

"He'll rally his forces. Within two weeks, he'll be stunning me and Amaranth _before_ we take out his entire team." Ajax said.

"You seem awfully confident in his abilities."

"True." Ajax replied. "On the other hand, you need to have a certain amount of strength to be able to hold up when Fate shits all over you. Why are you really here, boss? I know it's not just to shoot the breeze with me."

"True." Death conceded. "I'm actually here to see Harry. Ever since my sister's little fiasco with him, I have had a special interest in him."

"Right this way, sir." Ajax said, gesturing towards the door.

_Alright, that will be all for this chapter, more to follow…later._

_Answers to Readers:_

_Master of the Blood Wolves: Too long? Most readers would complain that people don't update fast enough or long enough._

_Hopefully this won't be too bad_

_NinthFeather: Harry and Hermione was something that I am inclined to think was actually going to happen. However, it is my belief that Rowling was forced to go the way she did because of the movies. Highly annoying, especially with Amanda sitting in the recliner opposite from me, yelling about how completely wrong it was with Ron and Hermione hooking up._

_Dumbledore…I'll be frank. Sometimes, he's portrayed as the ultimate good guy, other times, the ultimate bad guy. Grindlewald? Rumor has it that they were lovers before Dumbledore decided to shoot him in the back with a Muggle weapon. 'All for the Greater Good' of course._

_I couldn't handle Snape very well. My apologies. Yes, Ajax does seem to be a little OP again, I'm trying to deal with that. Harry will be dealing with the Moldy shorts problem, with minimal backup from Ajax, hence the training. You should see what Hermione is going to do! I think with Ron…I'll try to find a way to bring him back from the brink. Maybe he'll be a good guy, but he's definitely not going to be a main._


End file.
